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US Justice Department pursuing hackers behind attack on X users
Todd Blanche said X disrupted the attack before accounts were captured as investigators tracked hundreds of thousands of targeted users.
On Wednesday, Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the Justice Department is working with Elon Musk's X to track down attackers behind a password-recovery scheme targeting hundreds of thousands of users this week.
Attackers appear to believe they can gain unauthorized access to accounts through the "forgot password" process, specifically targeting XMoney, the payment platform for Premium subscribers that became widely available in July.
X Product Engineer Mridul Singhai reported finding no evidence of actual breaches, while Blanche described the perpetrators as "sophisticated cybercriminals," noting that X disrupted the attack to prevent account capture.
Dozens of users reported receiving multiple automated confirmation codes, sparking concern about potential phishing; X advises users to enable two-factor authentication or a passkey via account settings to secure accounts.
The Justice Department noted that the Senate, Federal Reserve, and NASA were also targeted by the platform, reflecting the global surge in AI-driven cyberattacks and ransomware operations threatening sensitive data.