There has been a noticeable rise in hacking threats on journalists, especially those in Europe and North America, as hackers from Asian countries try to take control of their social media accounts for misuse.
The cyber attackers use a modus operandi wherein a message is sent to Twitter users saying that their account has seen a new login in Moscow, Russia. Hackers from Iran, Turkey, China and North Korea have claimed to be Twitter employees or journalists as they launch their attack remotely.
A link is attached to the message which urges the user to change their passwords. The users who fall in the trap become victims of their accounts being hacked. The hackers then continue their operation by sending follow-up emails and video call meeting links for gaining the trust of the victim. The video call link then redirects to a password harvesting website which yields the victim’s password.
In a recent study, it has been noticed that Turkish hackers are targeting journalists in order to take hold of their Twitter account identity. In another instance, Iranian hackers deployed the use of a reporter’s persona for hacking accounts of academicians and policymakers.
