The haste with which Elon Musk is executing Twitter’s name change exposes users to some security risks. Therefore, be careful with the ‘X’, say several experts. They warn that the transition, announced last Sunday, it could be exploited by hackers to steal your data.
Musk, owner of Twitter since last year, explained that he had secured the domain x.com as the first step of this name change. However, it seems that the tycoon was in such a hurry because he had not yet redirected to the social network on Monday morning.
Many DNS servers, the key pieces of Internet infrastructure that direct visitors to the correct website, can take 48 hours or more to update. The problem with X.com is now resolved. But the company has not yet taken other basic security measures. For example, secure the domain XX.com or other similar ones.
“People searching for the new URL could run into copycat sites wanting to steal Twitter login details,” Jake Moore, global cybersecurity advisor at security firm ESET, told Forbes.
Possible email attacks with the new name of Twitter
Another risk with changing names and domains is that cybercriminals could use the new brand to send scam email communications. The Dominion xsafety.com is another one that is currently for sale. This address, for example, could be bought by crooks to launch hacking attacks. Phishing, pretending to be from X’s security team.
In practice, you might get an email like: “We have noticed that your account has been hacked, click here to fix the problem.” Unsuspecting users could be redirected to a malicious site that steals login credentials. It could also install some harmful software on the victim’s computer.
“A rebrand is the perfect opportunity to send out emails from phishing… Cybercriminals can easily take advantage of this,” Moore said, in another interview for the BBC.
“Soon we will say goodbye to the name Twitter and gradually to all the birds,” Musk posted on Sunday. And he added: “If a good enough X logo gets released tonight, we’ll make it work around the world tomorrow.” Very Musk-esque.
Musk’s fascination with X.com
Musk has always been fascinated with the X as a brand identity. His second start-up company was precisely X.com. It is the company that later became PayPal. The businessman also incorporated the “X” in the name of SpaceX, his aerospace company. He did the same with a Tesla model and, more recently, named his new artificial intelligence startup xAI.
The company’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, laid out the vision for Twitter’s name change Sunday at a meeting with top marketers in Napa, California, according to The Financial Times. It’s more than a name change. “X is the future state of unlimited interactivity”, Yaccarino said in his profile this Monday on the social network.
The new CEO, in office since June, explained that the new era of the platform will focus on audio, video, messaging and payments/banking. This will create “a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services and opportunities”Yaccarino added. Musk has long been talking about building a “super app” that can handle everything users do online, like WeChat does in China.