It was a shocking security breach as hackers hijacked the official X (formerly Twitter) account of Watcher Guru, a crypto and finance news platform. This was the opportunity for them to spread false news amongst users of a famous cryptocurrency called XRP.
The hackers were able to post an announcement claiming that SWIFT, the already existing global payment network, is due to close an agreement with Ripple to use XRP for international transactions. And they also cited that billions of XRP were locked in escrow to increase its liquidity. Eventually the misleading post was shared fast and removed by Watcher Guru.
Watcher Guru had 2FA turned on, no linked apps and no API tokens in use on the account that got compromised, and yet it was compromised. This caused significant concerns about online security. Also, the Watcher Guru system automatically reposted the message to Facebook, Telegram and Discord, thus causing it to resonate even heavier.
However, the media house quickly responded, logging out all devices as well as resetting passwords. They had also reached out to X’s cybersecurity team. But they haven’t worked out how the hack occurred yet.
Remarkably, on the same day SWIFT announced a crypto related update. This resulted in speculation as to whether or not Watcher Guru simply spilled the beans on insider news and then lied blaming a hack to hide up.
Although there is no proof of this theory, this incident shows the risk of cyberattacks. This is also a warning to media platforms to develop stronger security and watch out for weak spots to avoid such attacks.
Also read: Thailand SEC Approves USDT for Trading and Payments in a Historic Move for Crypto
