Celebrity twitter accounts used to spread fake news

Fake news has been on everyone's lips since the past American election. Social networks have been their main form of dissemination, where they have been at ease.

Celebrity Twitter accounts used to spread fake news

After the measures developed by the various social networks to reduce their presence as much as possible, their creators find new ways to spread them. This time hacking the accounts of famous people. People with many followers and an image of credibility.

How this attack works

DoubleSwitch is the name of this attack. In principle it behaves normally. They gain access to a person's account, so they change their password and username. But what they do is change it by the name of someone famous, and if possible with a good image. Two journalists in Venezuela have been victims, and they are the ones who have denounced this impersonation.

The problem is that the person who has been attacked and whose access is in the hands of the attackers cannot get back to control the account. If you are looking to reset or get a new password, it reaches attackers. In this way, hackers can share hundreds of false news with the followers of these people, whose image is questioned.

Twitter has created an online form so that victims can contact support and solve this problem. So far the number of people who have suffered the DoubleSwitch attack is unknown. It is possible that more cases will appear in the coming days. Did you know this new type of attack on social networks? Facebook and Instagram have confirmed that they have also given access to this form called Access Now.