Tron's Justin Sun Offers $1 Million Bounty For Twitter Hackers

[Hydrogen]

Justin Sun, founder of cryptocurrency Tron, revealed in an interview he will give $1 million to anyone who can identify the names behind the persons who hacked Twitter earlier Wednesday, July 15. Sun’s and Tron’s Twitter accounts were also compromised during the incident.

According to Cointelegraph, Sun said they were working closely with the social networking platform to resolve the issue. He also affirmed they were very vigilant in handling their accounts. Finally, Sun said the attack highlighted the need for decentralization and adoption of trustless software and services.

Sun’s Twitter account appeared to not have said a statement regarding the hack. However, the Twitter account of Bittorrent, his other company, requested followers to remain vigilant while the hack was ongoing.

The security breach at Twitter was the largest at the moment as hackers were able to take control of dozens of accounts, not only crypto companies, but also verified accounts of tech figures like Elon Musk and politicians like Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

All the compromised accounts were tweeting about a scam giveaway. It appears the scammers managed to rake in $118,567 in today’s Bitcoin prices.

Early investigation inside Twitter revealed the hack was a coordinated social engineering attack; hackers were able to successfully target Twitter employees with access to internal systems and tools.

This incident is corroborated by Vice Motherboard, whose sources revealed the hackers paid a Twitter insider to gain access to the company’s internal tool.

“We used a rep that literally done all the work for us,” the source told the publication. Screenshots of the internal tool were being deleted immediately by Twitter when someone posted them. Twitter claimed the image violates their TOS.

Twitter said they immediately locked down the affected account and limited the functionality of all verified accounts the moment they became aware of the incident. The social media platform added it took significant steps to limit access to its internal systems.

Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri wrote a letter to Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey requesting for more information on the extent of the breach and whether or not President Donald Trump’s account was compromised. In a separate tweet, Dorsey said they will release more information once they find out more details on how the attack happened.

https://www.ibtimes.com/trons-justin-sun-offers-1-million-bounty-twitter-hackers-3012178

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Incidentally, offering bounties in exchange for information on criminal activities is the same policy the SEC (Securities Exchange Commission) uses.

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SEC Issues $3.8 Million Whistleblower Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2020-155

Washington D.C., July 14, 2020 —

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced a $3.8 million award to a whistleblower who provided significant information that helped the SEC disrupt an ongoing fraudulent scheme.  The resulting enforcement action returned millions of dollars to harmed investors.

“Today’s award underscores the paramount role the SEC’s whistleblower program plays in safeguarding the Main Street investor.  Since the beginning of the program nearly ten years ago, the SEC has ordered more than $2.5 billion in financial remedies based on whistleblower information, including more than $1.4 billion in disgorgement and prejudgment interest, of which almost $750 million has been returned or is scheduled to be returned to harmed investors,” said Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower.

The SEC has awarded approximately $505 million to 87 individuals since issuing its first award in 2012.  This includes awards to 20 individuals in the last 10 months, totaling almost $119 million.  All payments are made out of an investor protection fund established by Congress that is financed entirely through monetary sanctions paid to the SEC by securities law violators.  No money has been taken or withheld from harmed investors to pay whistleblower awards.  Whistleblowers may be eligible for an award when they voluntarily provide the SEC with original, timely, and credible information that leads to a successful enforcement action.  Whistleblower awards can range from 10 percent to 30 percent of the money collected when the monetary sanctions exceed $1 million.

As set forth in the Dodd-Frank Act, the SEC protects the confidentiality of whistleblowers and does not disclose information that could reveal a whistleblower’s identity.

For more information about the whistleblower program and how to report a tip, visit SEC.gov/whistleblower.

https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2020-155

The SEC claims $750 million dollars was returned to harmed investors by their whistleblower bounty program since 2012.

$750 million has been returned or is scheduled to be returned to harmed investors,” said Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower.

Here's to hoping Justin Sun's bounty program is as successful.

[hatshepsut93]

Justin Sun is still making his publicity stunts. And with this bounty being much bigger than the sum that was stolen, perhaps he is thinking that no one will come to claim it? After all, if there were multiple hackers, only one of them can snitch on the others to claim the bounty, and then it might still mean jail time for them. Plus there's a risk that Justin Sun won't uphold his word.

But I wonder if some chainanalysis company will somehow manage to track down the hackers, would Justin pay the bounty to them?

[crwth]

Something could happen within their organization if it's a group ever since this bounty has been announced. It's a large sum of money as well that could sway the opinions of different members if they have one. I hope Twitter would get this resolved ASAP and make sure that it wouldn't happen again.

Additional reference: https://cointelegraph.com/news/justin-sun-offers-1-million-bounty-in-exchange-for-twitter-hackers

[Bttzed03]

Paying $1 million bounty for a social media account hack sounds desperate to me. It could be just another publicity stunt but it's also possible he must have done some (shady) deals thru twitter PM's and he's afraid hackers will reveal it soon. It would be interesting if the case is the latter.

[Slow death]

Paying $1 million bounty for a social media account hack sounds desperate to me.

The guy spends a lot of time on twitter and has become his favorite place to advertise his Altcoins, I believe that paying this amount should be worth it for him as he has a lot of money this will not harm him in any way

Justin Sun is still making his publicity stunts.

 

It is truly unbelievable that this works and many altcoin creators decide to dispense with bitcointalk to dedicate themselves exclusively to twitter.

Plus there's a risk that Justin Sun won't uphold his word.

many news channels are talking about it, he will not want to go back with his word

[TopTort777]

Paying $1 million bounty for a social media account hack sounds desperate to me. It could be just another publicity stunt.

He must be studying that kind of publicity stunts from John McAffee. He also like to give such unreal promises and predictions.

How I wish someone finds these hackers. Like to see what lies gonna Sun say. He did not mean $1 million or he was joking.

[dothebeats]

Another Justin Sun classic. He must have neen the apprentice of McAfee since this is also the way McAfee started before being one of the most hated personality in the crypto scene. Whilr I do not have any problems with Justin doing Justin things, I feel like he should leave these legal matters to the authorities. We get it, the dude has money, but it's obnoxious that he's offering it in exchange of the dox of the hackers before turning them over to the authorities.

[hongchao123]

Finally normal rewards for bounty

[kryptqnick]

Paying $1 million bounty for a social media account hack sounds desperate to me. It could be just another publicity stunt but it's also possible he must have done some (shady) deals thru twitter PM's and he's afraid hackers will reveal it soon. It would be interesting if the case is the latter.

I think it's a nice gesture from Sun there. It's important to the community's reputation because many people who aren't into cryptos think it's an area of scammers and drug-dealers. By announcing a 1-million-dollar bounty, Sun is showing that the community is not thrilled about scam and tries to combat it.
Since scammers stole less than $120k, it might be that one of the hackers might decide to betray the rest of the team in exchange for 1 million dollars sent anonymously to this person. Otherwise, I don't know how the scammers can get caught because if they managed to pull off a hack nobody did before, they're good at what they do.

[minairia3]

Finally normal rewards for bounty

Normal? This is Justin operates, mostly he announced some bounty worth millions just to save himself and shill also his reputation. I do hope that he will really award those bounty on those users will help to track those hackers. But mentioning the 1million USD is a bit shady, like how much he will pay actually for simple help tracking the hackers.

Another stunt again, probably trx  pumped right after the announcement. But lets not think so much negativity but make it as a good deeds maybe he just actually concern about the victims.

[DoubleEdgeEX]

Look who came out of his wormhole to try to steal something of the publicity - Justin Sunofabitch. TikTok just recently, now Twitter. Did he already used Covid for some marketing stunts? Maybe he could make a pic with a black person and scream around that Tron supports the BLM movement. He is a bane for this industry.

[LogitechMouse]

This move by him has a double purpose in my opinion.

This is beneficial for those who will participate in the bounty as they can get a reward if they "CAN" give the list of hackers that hacked multiple popular people's twitter accounts in a single day and at the same time, beneficial for him as he will gain more publicity and this will lead him to more publicity with his shitcoin TRX and other coins.

Well, just good luck to this bounty and I hope that this will be a successful one. That they can trace those hackers who hack his account.

[Russlenat]

This move by him has a double purpose in my opinion.

This is beneficial for those who will participate in the bounty as they can get a reward if they "CAN" give the list of hackers that hacked multiple popular people's twitter accounts in a single day and at the same time, beneficial for him as he will gain more publicity and this will lead him to more publicity with his shitcoin TRX and other coins.

Well, just good luck to this bounty and I hope that this will be a successful one. That they can trace those hackers who hack his account.

Regardless of the purpose, at least he is making a drive to help find the hackers, $1 is just peanuts and we know he is a businessman who are good in hyping the project, so it would also be beneficial to the TRON project, just like an advertisement that could potentially give a positive result in the long run.

Well, just good luck to this bounty and I hope that this will be a successful one. That they can trace those hackers who hack his account.

Good luck.. finding the hacker is not easy, most of the hacks in the past, until now it's still unresolved.

[verita1]

Publicity or not by Justin Sun I think it is a correct and timely action on his part. Scammers are using Twitter to trick people and promise to give Bitcoin and it's time to take action. I think Justin will pay the reward, I want to know the full story of how the hackers acted and that they receive their punishment.

[Lucius]

Twitter hacking is not a child's play, so I believe that the person or those behind it are not prey that can be easily caught, and that they have protected themselves well. Justin just uses this situation for a little promotion, and if he really wants to help let him donate that amount to Twitter and their security service to patch up all the security holes in their system.

Maybe Justin just challenged the hackers to show what else they know., I wouldn't be surprised if they decide to remove him from the Trone because of this move

[smyslov]

It's good that Justin Sun offer this kind of huge rewards, but isn't it Twitter management should offer rewards to find and get these hackers, it's their site anyway, Justin Sun instead of spending money why not hire people who will create a twitter based like a site for the community, and do not engage to this kind of gimmick.

[levyashin]

Justin Sun just trying to take spotlights, his offer seems fake.

Besides that, i think twitter hackers could get more money with a better method. They had a huge advantage but they didn't use it very well.

[Sebas.tian]

Paying $1 million bounty for a social media account hack sounds desperate to me.

Possibly that's a cool one for anyone who can bring onboard the hackers information. Sentiment aside, I don't see this as desperate because the $1m doesn't amount to what the hackers gain access to (individual personal data and cooperations, including former US President).

It could be just another publicity stunt but it's also possible he must have done some (shady) deals thru twitter PM's and he's afraid hackers will reveal it soon. It would be interesting if the case is the latter.

We'll know Justin Sun to be a smart business man, maybe he's doing something we don't can't think of. Although, for publicity that will be a good one for his community.

[davis196]

Paying $1 million bounty for a social media account hack sounds desperate to me. It could be just another publicity stunt but it's also possible he must have done some (shady) deals thru twitter PM's and he's afraid hackers will reveal it soon. It would be interesting if the case is the latter.

This isn't desperate,this is just PR and marketing.For some reason,Justin Sun always wants to be a center of attention,on the spotlight.The Twitter accounts of people,who are way more popular than him got hacked too,but I don't see Elon Musk or Barack Obama offering a 1 million dollar bounty for revealing the hacker.
Preaching that decentralized social media will solve the hacking and security problems is weird(it's more weird ,when it comes from the guy,who conquered Steem and made the Steem community run away and create their own platform-Hive).
If decentralized social media is such an awesome idea,then why I don't see any successful example of a thriving decentralized social media platform?

[cheezcarls]

As much as I respect Justin Sun even if a lot hates him, I honestly think that spending $1 million to reveal the hackers isn’t just right, especially in this crisis. If I were in his shoes, I would rather spend $1 million for charity purposes during this pandemic. In that way, I would respect him even more despite meeting him a few times in person last year in Hongkong and Taiwan.

This is Twitter’s fault, and they were being highly accountable for this matter. $1 million bounty to hunt these hackers won’t be enough to regain his reputation. I would rather see him donate that $1 million to help fight COVID-19 pandemic.