Revealed: CIA Using TwitterX To Recruit Spies

Uploaded on 2023-10-20 in TECHNOLOGY-Key Areas-Social Media, INTELLIGENCE--USA, FREE TO VIEW

A cyber security researcher has used a minor fault on the CIA's official X account, formerly the Twitter account, and has hijacked a channel that has been used for recruiting spies. The researcher and ethical hacker, Kevin McSheehan recently exploited a flaw on the CIA's official Twitter account, to hijack a Telegram channel used for recruiting informants.

The CIA official Twitter X account, with almost 3.5 million followers, is used to promote the agency and encourage people to get in touch to protect US national security.

McSheehan spotted that the CIA had recently added a link from its TwitterX profile page to its Telegram channel. The CIA Telegram channel contained information about contacting the organisation on the Dark Net and through other secretive means.

The CIA's account was displaying a link to a Telegram channel where people can privately contact the agency and McSheehan was able to exploit a flaw to redirect potential CIA contacts to his own Telegram channel. He hijacked the channel as a "security precaution" out of concern that adversaries like Russia, China, or North Korea could intercept sensitive Western intelligence if they exploited the flaw. "I saw that the official Telegram link they were sharing could be hijacked - and my biggest fear was that a country like Russia, China or North Korea could easily intercept Western intelligence."

The channel said, in Russian: "Our global mission demands that individuals be able to reach out to CIA securely from anywhere," while warning potential recruits to "be wary of any channels that claim to represent the CIA". As soon McSheehan noticed the issue, he registered the username so anyone clicking on the link was directed to his own channel, which warned them not to share any secret or sensitive information.

The incident highlights the about potential cyber security weaknesses for corporate users in managing their online presence.

TwitterX is undergoing rapid and experimental changes under management of its new owner, Elon Musk, and organisations and personal users of the social media platforms need to be alert to the possible risks that must be identified and addressed.

Washington Examiner: Techround: BBC: BBC: Washington Post: cyberkendra:

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