The call for better security measures on social media platforms has escalated following the high-profile hack of Vitalik Buterin’s X (Twitter) account over the weekend. Crypto industry experts have waded in offering their opinions and advice.



On September 9, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin was locked out of his X (formerly Twitter) account following the latest high-profile hack.



Buterin Hack Prompts Response 



As reported by BeInCrypto, the scammers posted a fraudulent phishing link and NFT giveaway. They netted almost $700,000 in NFTs from duped victims who clicked the dodgy link.



On September 10, Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko warned that phone numbers linked to X (Twitter) accounts can be used to reset passwords. He advised removing your phone number from your account. 




“If your Twitter account pre-dates crypto, strongly recommend double-checking, and adding strong 2FA!”




He pinged platform owner Elon Musk to say that this tip,




“Seems like a no-brainer to have this default on, or to default turn it on when an account reaches, say, >10k followers.”




Twitter X Settings Show How to Turn on Password Reset Protection. Source: Tim Beiko / X



Password recovery via SMS appears to be a major problem for platform security. Besides the obvious privacy leak, this is a huge help for hackers, said engineer ‘Captain_Plantain:’




“They can scrape the password reset tool for accounts that have a phone associated and target them for sim swaps!”




Hackers use SIM swapping, also known as simjacking , as a technique to gain control of a victim’s phone number. With control of the number, scammers can use two-factor authentication to access bank accounts, social media accounts, and crypto exchange accounts. 



Read more: 15 Most Common Crypto Scams To Look Out For



DeFi researcher “Ignas” told his 63,000 followers that he was “double thinking” his security setup:




“The crucial step is to remove SMS 2FA from X.”




Moreover, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao echoed the call for stronger security over the weekend: 




“Twitter’s account security is not designed as financial platforms. It needs quite a bit more features: 2FA, login ID should be different from handle or email, etc.”




He revealed that hackers caused a lock on his own account a few times while trying to brute-force it.



Crypto Scams Show No Signs of Slowing



Late last month, a new phishing attack targeted FTX users on their company-registered email addresses.



The attacks came a week after Kroll, the claims agent in the bankruptcy proceedings, was impacted by a SIM-swapping attack. 



In July, Uniswap CEO and founder Hayden Adams had his Twitter account hacked . The scammers posted a fake token revoke link warning Uniswap users about an exploit. 



Moreover, one of the largest crypto phishing attacks occurred last week. A whale lost $24 million in stETH and rETH tokens in the massive exploit where token approvals were enabled by the victim. 
The post Quick Tips to Prevent Your X (Twitter) Account Getting Hacked Like Vitalik Buterin appeared first on BeInCrypto .