Mumbai, July 16: The Maharashtra cyber department on Thursday issued an advisory after Twitter accounts of prominent personalities including former US president Barack Obama, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates & SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, were hacked. In the advisory, the Maharashtra Cyber department asked people not to trust content posted on social media platforms blindly. Twitter Accounts Hacked: CEO Jack Dorsey Says 'We All Feel Terrible This Happened' After Major US Twitter Accounts Hacked in Bitcoin Scam.

The department said that people should take time to determine if the content posted is truthful of fake. The department in its advisory also asked people to report any suspicious incident to their nearest police station or on www.cybercrime.gov.in. The state cyber department advised people to refrain from circulating any post that seems like fake news or rumours. It further added, "Do not fall for cryptocurrency scams that are widespread on social media. It stated that citizens should have strong passwords and should report any security problem in their social media account.

Advisory by Maharashtra Cyber Department:

On Thursday, Twitter went through the worst-ever cyber attack on any social media platforms. According to at least 367 users transferred around $1,20,000 (over Rs 90 lakh) to hackers in Bitcoins before the Twitter teams swung into action to stop the cryptocurrency scam that hit several top-notch public profiles. Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Kim Kardashian West & Other High-Profile Twitter Accounts Hacked in Cryptocurrency Scam, Twitterati Term it 'Money Heist'.

The hacker used these accounts to promote a bitcoin scam. The verified accounts of former US President Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian West, Warren Buffet and Jeff Bezos also appeared to have been compromised in the cryptocurrency scam. Twitter admitted it was a "coordinated social engineering attack by people who successfully targeted some of our employees with access to internal systems and tools". Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has also apologised.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 16, 2020 07:29 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).