Twitter glitch allows CIA informant channel to be hijacked
www.bbc.com
US spies and informants could have been directed to hostile nations through a CIA mistake made on X.
  • worldwidewave@lemmy.world
    17·
    1 year ago

    At some point after 27 September, the CIA had added to its X profile page a link - https://t.me/securelycontactingcia - to its Telegram channel containing information about contacting the organisation on the dark net and through other secretive means.

    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”.

    But a flaw in how X displays some links meant the full web address had been truncated to https://t.me/securelycont - an unused Telegram username.

    As soon as Mr 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.

    It’s high time for any US government agencies to leave Twitter

  • PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca
    132·
    1 year ago

    “Glitch”.

    Just like when StarLink mysteriously went down prior to the Ukraine offensive.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    41·
    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    A cyber-security researcher has exploited a glitch on the CIA’s official Twitter account, to hijack a channel used for recruiting spies.

    The CIA is a US government organisation known for gathering secret intelligence information, often over the internet, from a vast network of spies and tipsters around the world

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

    “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.”

    At some point after 27 September, the CIA had added to its X profile page a link - https://t.me/securelycontactingcia - to its Telegram channel containing information about contacting the organisation on the dark net and through other secretive means.

    As soon as Mr 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 original article contains 375 words, the summary contains 183 words. Saved 51%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!