A new rumor details that The Walt Disney Company instructed certain individuals to delete their Twitter accounts after the recent Twitter account that targeted verified Twitter accounts as well as involved a Bitcoin scam involving Elon Musk.
CNet reported that “Bitcoin scammers targeted the Twitter accounts of Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Kanye West, Barack Obama and other famous tech executives, entertainers and politicians on Wednesday in what appears to be a large-scale hack.”
The scam saw hackers post to Musk, Gates and others an offer to send individuals $2,000 worth of bitcoin in exchange for $1,000.”
However, while the hack might have looked like a Bitcoin scam from the outside, Business Insider reports it might have been much more. They note the Twitter hack “compromised the accounts of high-profile celebrities, politicians, and business leaders.”
Business Insider spoke to Kevin O’Brien the CEO of email security company GreatHorn who speculated that the Bitcoin scam might have been a cover for a more nefarious hack.
O’Brien questioned, “The question is: Is this attack something of a false flag?” He then added, “It looks like a bitcoin scam, but really, say the accounts were being accessed because there was information that was in them that is valuable.”
He elaborated, “It wouldn’t be a terribly surprising if there was a simultaneous, much wider attack, maybe not even on Twitter.”
O’Brien continued, “In security, you’re paid to be paranoid. And the paranoia says there was something else happening at the same time, or these accounts were being accessed in ways that are far more damaging.”
O’Brien wasn’t the only one to speculate on this. Ryan Olson the vice president of Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks stated, “Noisy attacks are a great way to distract security teams from other malicious activities.”
This information seems to coincide with the recent rumor from WDW Pro on the WDW Magic Forums.
In a post titled , “The Red Button Option,” WDW Pro discussed Disney’s current problems with rising COVID cases in Florida. However, the scooper also mentioned the Twitter hack.
WDW Pro stated, ” To add further to the company’s woes, in the past 24 hours there was a major breach of security at Twitter. While the news media is mostly focusing on a bitcoin scheme that was part of the Twitter hack, Disney (and other companies) are much more concerned about the seemingly true issue that hackers had access to all Direct Messages on the platform for verified accounts.”
He continued, ” I am told that a small minority of individuals within the company AND linked to the company through various current and former projects may have had information within those Direct Messages that would be damaging.”
“Disney Legal has advised individuals who may have had damaging information in their Direct Messages to delete their Twitter accounts, and at least one individual of significant stature has elected to do so,” WDW Pro explained.
He then concluded, “There is real fear in Burbank that hackers have information about the company, about individuals within the company, etc, which would be particularly unpleasant to have released into the public sphere.”
WDW Pro doesn’t mention any individuals, but as Jeff from World Class Bullshitters notes, The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson deleted his Twitter account out of the blue.
As Jeff points out when you navigate to Johnson’s twitter page it now comes up with a message that says, “This account doesn’t exist.”
However, it does appear that Johnson is using the Knives Out Twitter account.
When Lionsgate asked if Johnson was okay, the Knives Out account responded, “yes.”
What do you make of this rumor? Do you think there is any validity to it?