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India’s PM Modi Latest Victim of Twitter and Cryptocurrency Hack
The world saw one of the largest twitter hacks to date in the month of July. Now we have a similar story playing out in India. The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal website, and twitter account were hacked on September 2nd. We see the echoes from the July Twitter hack, as attackers were asking for donations to a non profit to be made in cryptocurrency. This scenario is unlikely simply due to the indecisive nature of India’s parliament when it comes to cryptocurrency. India has banned, and unbanned cryptocurrency perhaps more than any other country. If you know this, then you would easily be able to tell that this latest hack on PM Modi was fraudulent.
When Will Twitter Tighten Security?
CryptoVantage covered the Twitter hack in July. We said it then, and we will say it again. This was a twitter hack, not a crypto hack. The attackers were using cryptocurrency as a means of profiting from the hack, but this scenario in no way compromised the security of any cryptocurrency networks. It is important to make this distinction because people are quick to place blame on cryptocurrency. In reality, cryptocurrency is a tool that can be used for good, or evil, just like twitter. This ultimately begs the question, when will Twitter tighten their security to prevent prominent societal figures’ accounts from being hacked? It is doubtful that Twitter wants the world to believe that the new normal is twitter being hacked on an every-other-month basis. Maybe Twitter should explore blockchain as a security solution for their accounts.
Exploitation of a Good Cause
The hack on Prime Minister Modi was two pronged. The first was his twitter account, the second was on Modi’s personal website. Modi uses his personal website, and a connected mobile application for a variety of purposes. One of those purposes is to collect donations for a number of causes within the borders of India. For example, feeding children, and giving relief to those who have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Fortunately, the hackers did not succeed in their mission to sequester funds from donors. Unlike the twitter hack in July that compromised dozens of celebrity accounts, this attack failed. Twitter has taken steps to prevent these sort of attacks, for example, by banning the posting of cryptocurrency addresses and transaction receipts.
The World is Adjusting to Cryptocurrency
The fact that this hack was not successful is an indication that the world is at least in part, adjusting to the world of cryptocurrency. People are learning that celebrities and prime ministers do not ask their followers to donate to causes in cryptocurrency. Or it could just be the fact that this hack didn’t incentivize people to send money to an address like the July twitter hack did. There is the old saying that no press is bad press. Hacks like this draw attention to cryptocurrency, even if it is demonizing crypto in the process. This just means that CryptoVantage needs to do a good job explaining the positive sides of cryptocurrency.
