Verified Twitter accounts, including Firstpost, hacked to imitate 'SNL', offer free cryptocurrency

Several verified Twitter accounts worldwide were hacked on Saturday and Sunday, after Elon Musk shared a link to “watch Saturday Night Live outside the United States.” Firstpost’s Twitter account was among the ones that were hacked. Musk had hosted the show on Saturday. Firstpost on Sunday contacted Twitter to alert it about the hacking, and to seek restoration of the account. Later, however, the access to the account was restored. Twitter has not yet responded to Firstpost’s communication. The accounts that were hacked changed their names to “SNL” and switched their profile pictures to match that of the official Saturday Night Live account. As noted by Gizmodo, these altered accounts replied to Musk’s tweets with prompts for users to “join” a virtual event by clicking a link to receive 5,000 bitcoin, worth a little over $295 million at the time. The website quoted a Twitter spokesperson as saying that the company is looking into the matter. Among the other accounts that appeared to have been hacked were those of the governor of Rio de Janeiro, Luiz Fernando Pezão, as well as a NYC clothes brand and a Norwegian musical group, as noted by Sputnik News.