There was a big worldwide computer hack on Wednesday, July 15. Im sure you heard about it.

A breach in Twitters security allowed hackers to break into the accounts of leaders and technology moguls in one of the worst attacks in recent years. The ruse discovered Wednesday included bogus tweets from former President Barack Obama, Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden, Mike Bloomberg and a number of tech billionaires including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Celebrities Kanye West and his wife, Kim Kardashian West, were also hacked.

Oh yeah, there was that one. Also, one of my social media platforms was hacked. Yep, me and Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos were just four peas in a pod. Their pods just happen to be slightly more upscale than mine.

My hack was a pretty familiar one. A friend request went out to people that I was already friends with, including a photo from my page. A few connections, in a weak moment, clicked on the request and received a message from some fourth or fifth world country where life is cheap but they do have internet cafes.

My hackers were smart enough not to ask a journalists friends for loads of bitcoin, but it was some sort of scam where they could weasel their way into friends accounts and probably send out more fake friend requests and on and on and on. Makes you sort of long for the days of the honest bank robber who walks in and demands money from a teller.

After I learned of the hack, I immediately notified the social media company and they went into a flurry of action. Or maybe I should say they went into a flurry of inaction. Basically, they sent me to a web page that said I should change my password. Whoopee, what technical geniuses they are. No wonder we surrender all individual rights to them. As a social media company, they promise connections with people the world over, but if you want to connect with them, well thats a different story. They want their Wizard to stay cloaked in mystery. Or they just couldnt be bothered. Too busy tinkering with their algorithms to squeeze another dollar from their system. Meanwhile, they sell your personal stats to any gangster around the world sitting in an internet caf and eventually hack you.

So, I changed my password, which I wont remember until the next time I get hacked. It gave me little sense of satisfaction.

Yeah, this so-called modern world has some serious bs to deal with. I remember the early days of the personal computer industry when people thought this new technology was going to change the world all for the better. And then when the world was connected, it was going to be even better. We would have more understanding among people of different races, creeds and colors as the lines of communication would remain open. Promises, promises. The automobile was going to take us everywhere, too, except for the fact were all stuck in traffic.

Yeah, promises. I just posted a story about people who believe that high-end furniture seller Wayfair is some kind of front for child sex trafficking. Back when I was a kid, you heard that kind of stuff on off days on talk radio and it didnt get much further than that. Now? People treat that kind of information like it is some deep, dark secret that they tell everyone about. Particularly at Thanksgiving dinner. Weve gotten more paranoid, maybe because we know these companies know so much about us. Or that well say something that gets us canceled.

As to that other hack on Wednesday, the FBI said it is investigating and said the high-profile accounts appear to have been compromised in order to perpetuate cryptocurrency fraud.

Twitter said the hackers used social engineering to target some of the companys employees and then gained access to the accounts. The term refers to taking advantage of human nature via phishing attacks, tricking people into downloading malicious software or compromising them by offering something in return for information. Twitter did not say how its employees were compromised.

The attackers sent out tweets from the accounts of the public figures, offering to send $2,000 for every $1,000 sent to an anonymous bitcoin address.

Cybersecurity experts say such a breach could have dire consequences since the attackers were tweeting from verified, globally influential accounts with millions of followers.

If you receive a tweet from a verified account, belonging to a well-known and therefore trusted person, you can no longer assume its really from them, said Michael Gazeley, managing director of cybersecurity firm Network Box.

Reacting to the breach, Twitter swiftly deleted the tweets and locked down the accounts to investigate. In the process it prevented verified users from sending out tweets for several hours. Bob Sturm of KTCK The Ticket radio station in Dallas is a big verified user of Twitter. The lockdown kept us from getting the latest sports news from Bobs big sports brain.

Twitter said Thursday it has taken significant steps to limit access to internal systems and tools. User passwords did not appear to have been compromised, Twitter said, so its not necessary for users to reset them. Oh, and Twitters stock price fell 39 cents on Thursday because of the hack.

As for me, I posted a note on my site, telling my friends not to pay attention to the fake friend request. I also requested my friends to raise a glass of wine, whiskey or Dr Pepper and toast our friendship virtually with a salud!, which is Spanish for to your health.

As to the people who hacked me? Im comforted by the fact that I live in a place with great Mexican food and they dont. And Im toasting them, too, with words that are the complete and total opposite of salud.

This report contains information from the Associated Press.

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