Revealed months later: 700 thousand TikTok accounts were stolen before the elections
A terrifying truth has emerged about TikTok, one of the most popular social media platforms in the world.
Forbes, a major US media organization, announced that approximately 700,000 accounts in Turkey were hacked ahead of the Turkish elections in May. In the news, it was stated that weeks before the election, TikTok’s security manager, Kim Albarella, received bad news and that after this attack, attackers could use users’ private information and take control of their accounts.
REASON ONE TIME PASSWORD
It was reported that they were aware that they were exposed to such an attack, according to internal company correspondence, data and information received from abroad. It was claimed that TikTok sent proper one-time passwords via SMS and these passwords were stolen. In the Forbes news, it was recalled that the British intelligence service GCHQ announced that this could damage the accounts of TikTok users.
While it was claimed that TikTok uses such SMS to cut costs, it was stated that “companies using this method can make money, but the insecurity of these messages can also create a situation open to interference and attacks.”
US-based Forbes brought the news to its headlines.
Alex Stamos, director of the Stanfort Internal Observatory and a former Facebook security director, claimed that this attack was deliberate. “This attack could be a super advanced spam attack or it could be government elements,” Stamos said. SMS attacks are more targeted than anticipated. “Repressive regimes always have control over telecommunications companies,” he said.
While the attack in Turkey was claimed to be the biggest attack on TikTok, a statement came from TikTok on the subject. TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said: “TikTok noted unusual activity in the number of likes and the number of followers on some accounts in April. “We quickly took the necessary measures and were able to secure their accounts by informing the affected users.”
“WHO BENEFITS FROM THIS?”
Haurek also claimed that while Tiktok was not “hacked”, no sensitive data was stolen. It was recalled that security moves by TikTok and its umbrella organization ByteDance were also discussed in the US.
In the Forbes story, “it is unclear who used the attack for their own gain in this case. The Erdogan-controlled Turkish government has a history of using the government-sponsored troll network. Before the May elections, Erdogan tried to win over voters using deepfake and censorship. The opponent, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, accused the Russian government of creating misinformation days before the elections.
Haurek also made the statement that “TikTok launched an internal investigation and found that what happened was not related to the elections in Turkey.” The TikTok spokesman stressed that his company still uses the SMS messaging system.