It turned out that 700 thousand TikTok accounts were stolen in Turkey!

Starting with the first round on 14 May 2023 and ending with the second round on 28 May 2023 Türkiye general electionsreaffirmed the influence of social media on citizens. But today, appalling claims have been made by Forbes.

Forbes writer Emily Baker-White, just a few weeks before the general elections in Turkey, Close to 700 thousand TikTok accounts were stolen shared. The information in question was revealed by TikTok’s internal communications, documents, and internal and external sources.

The reason for stealing accounts is TikTok’s lack of security and not taking measures to avoid cost increase!

In the shared news, it was shared that TikTok was aware of the security vulnerability that would lead to the theft of 700 thousand TikTok accounts in Turkey. Moreover, the open By the UK National Cyber ​​Security Center had been reported.

The resulting email traffic and documents noted that “SIM farms” could occur in Russia and other countries due to the UK, TikTok vulnerability. This is open to TikTok accounts. allowed access with a one-time password.

The thing that leads to this deficit is the “Keywords”, which is well known by the cyber world and reduces the cost of sending a high number of SMS.gray routing” was. In this method, companies could not implement important measures such as spam blockers and limiters, even though they kept their money in their pockets. It was possible to interfere with SMS from outside.

The UK’s intelligence team also reached critical detail about ByteDance. The investigations carried out to avoid cost showed that it was applying to gray routing.

With the discovery of this vulnerability, ByteDance wanted to change its SMS service provider. However, the company because it will result in millions of dollars in extra spending every month did not go this route.

And things happened. According to the information provided by Forbes alone, more than 700 thousand TikTok accounts were seized in a very short time in Turkey alone. Moreover, the same situation may have occurred in other countries.

According to the Stanford University Internet Observatory, it may also depend on the “government”:

Speaking to Forbes, Alex Stamos, Director of the Stanford University Internet Observatory, said the true impact of the attack. will not be known unless there is sufficient information. recorded. He shared his prediction as follows:

“This is from a super-advanced spam attack. can range from a state actor. If you had just called me 700,000 accounts, I would have told you it was insignificant.”

Stamos also shared the background of this idea. He noted that SMS attacks are often targeted rather than random, “that authoritarian states almost always control telecom companies” told.

So, does TikTok continue the gray routing application?

This question was answered directly by TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek. Replying to Forbes via email, Haurek used the following statements without saying yes or no:

“Like many global companies, we have multiple partners in the telecommunications industry, and although we do not disclose these partners by geography, we are constantly working to ensure the security of our community.”