Twitter hack: Obama, Bezos and Kanye targeted

Twitter hack: Obama, Bezos and Kanye targeted 

I Lead-in.

1 Is a social networking service Twitter popular in your country? Do you use it?

2 What people have a lot of followers in Twitter? Do you follow any famous people on Twitter?

3 What kind of information do people post on Twitter?

II Vocabulary focus. Match the words to their definitions. Use five words in your sentences.

1.	a tweet	A.	difficult
2.	high-profile	B.	extremely large
3.	to double	C.	size of something
4.	donation	D.	trying to influence something without right or invitation
5.	bitcoin	E.	to aim an attack at a certain person
6.	a hack	F.	a post on social media platform Twitter
7.	enormous	G.	designed to harm and damage other people
8.	scale	H.	attracting a lot of attention and interest
9.	celebrity	I.	to give control
10.	to target	J.	to become two times bigger
11.	to lure	K.	part of company’s capital
12.	to hand over	L.	powerful effect
13.	meddling	M.	not real
14.	tough	N.	an act of getting into someone else’s computer system without permission
15.	employee	O.	sum of money people give to charity
16.	malicious	P.	a famous person
17.	fake	Q.	to trick someone into doing something
18.	impact	R.	a type of digital currency
19.	share	S.	a person who works for a company

III Vocabulary focus. Follow the link below. Study the words and  word combinations using flashcards, check your understanding, practise their  spelling. Write the words using definitions, check your knowledge in the test. Play matching vocabulary game (match words to their translations to make cards disappear)  and save the planet from asteroids by typing in correct words.

  

IV Watch the video and fill in the gaps with the words from the list. There are some words you don’t need to use.

attack; thousand; deleted; scale; terrible; high-profile; profits; money; richest; terror; president; candidate; social media; financial; malicious; understanding; systems; tough; delay; dollars; followers; celebrities; fake

The tweets appeared in the name of some of the most 1) ______ and powerful figures in the world: from hundreds of accounts, to tens of millions of 2) ______, and all containing the same message. From the account of former 3)______ Barack Obama an apparent offer to double any donation of a thousand 4) ______ sent in Bitcoin. In the words of the tweet: “to give back to the community”. This was the work of a hack on an enormous 5) ______.

 The accounts of 6) ______ like Kim Kardashian were also targeted in an apparent attempt to lure their followers into nothing more than handing over 7)______. The corporate accounts of tech giants like Apple were also hit, and even some of the world's 8) ______ figures like the Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Most of the tweets were quickly 9) ______ as Twitter began an investigation, but experts say it's possibly the most significant hack that any 10) ______   ______ platform has seen.

The targeting of largely Democrat politicians, like presidential 11) ______ Joe Biden, has raised the spectre of the sort of meddling that plagued the 2016 U.S election. Biden’s campaign has asked Twitter for answers. The network's founder Jack Dorsey tweeted: “It was a 12) ______ day for us at Twitter. We all feel 13) ______ this happened. We’re diagnosing and we'll share everything we can when we have a more complete 14) ______ of exactly what happened”.

          The company described the hack as a coordinated social engineering 15) ______ by people who successfully targeted some of its employees with access to 16) ______ and tools. They say there could have been other 17) ______ activity too. It hardly inspired confidence though, that having deleted the 18) ______ tweet from billionaire Elon Musk it reappeared not once but twice. Twitter’s already felt the 19) ______ impact of the crisis in its share price.

The hackers though are counting the 20) ______. Hundreds of people did pay up having seen these tweets to the tune of more than a hundred 21) ______ dollars.

V  Watch the video again and mark the sentences as True (T) or False (F). Correct the false statements.

1.    The tweets that appeared in the name of some of the most powerful figures contained different messages about bank accounts.  

2.    Hackers offered to double any donation of a thousand dollars sent in Bitcoin.  

3.    The accounts of celebrities like Kim Kardashian were targeted in an attempt to access followers’ personal information.  

4.    Bill Gates quickly deleted tweets from famous people’s accounts and Microsoft began an investigation.  

5.    This attack is the first example of hack on social media platforms.  

6.    Jack Dorsey tweeted that the company would diagnose the problem and share their understanding.  

7.    Jack Dorsey said that the company had complete understanding of exactly what happened.  

8.    The hack was a coordinated social engineering attack.  

9.    Hackers targeted some of Twitter’s employees with access to systems and tools.  

10.Fake tweet from billionaire Elon Musk was deleted, but it reappeared not once but ten times.  

11.Twitter’s already seen the financial impact of the crisis.   

12.The hackers though are disappointed because they lost money.

13.No one paid the hackers having seen the tweets.  

VI OVER TO YOU. Discuss the types of hacker attacks that used social media in the past. What social media were used? What users were targeted (celebrities, politicians, companies)? What did hackers want people to do (to pay money, to buy a product)? How did the hackers plan their attack? How can users protect themselves from such attacks?

Face masks: do they really work?

Face masks: do they really work?

I Lead-in.

1.    Do people have to wear face masks in your city or town?

2.    Where do people have to wear face masks? Do many people wear them?

II Vocabulary focus. Match the words to their definitions. Use three words in your sentences.

1.	to get used to	A.	who deals directly with people
2.	kit	B.	less than people need
3.	to transmit	C.	closed off on all sides
4.	to reduce	D.	firm and compact
5.	enclosed	E.	tight and close to the skin
6.	close-fitting	F.	to catch something
7.	in short supply	G.	to  get to know something and no longer find it strange
8.	frontline	H.	the way threads are placed in cloth
9.	to trap	I.	special clothing
10.	tight	J.	to make something smaller
11.	weave	K.	to send or pass something

III Watch the video and fill in the gaps with the words from the list. There are some words you don’t need to use.

norm; number; spreading; wearing; pandemic; layers; hands; Asia; face mask; numerous; breath; pass; formal; infected; general public; types; five; cotton; health

European; supermarket; symptoms; possible; virus

We're all going to have to get used to wearing a 1) ____  _____. From flights abroad to your local 2) _______, masks or face coverings are now in a central bit of kit in England. So why the sudden change? Because the 3 ) _______it not yet over.

    Well, the evidence has been growing that people can transmit Covid 19 even when they don't show 4) _______. They might feel well, but they can still breathe out the virus. So it makes sense to do whatever you can to reduce the number of 5) _______particles potentially reaching other people. Social distancing, at least one meter ideally two, is by far the best way of doing that. But the World Health Organization, the Royal Society, and lots of other scientific bodies now agree that when that's not 6) _______, and you're in an enclosed space, a face covering can reduce the chances of the virus 7) _______. By how much? It’s impossible to give you one easy 8) _______; there are big differences between studies. But to give you an idea a study in the Lancet medical journal found the risk of passing on the virus when 9) _______a mask was 3 % compared to 17 % when not wearing one.

      What about different 10) _______of masks? Well, without doubt the most effective is the respirator mask. They’re close-fitting, with a good filter, and they reduce the risk of being 11) _______as well as passing on the infection. But they're in short supply and medical bodies want them reserved for frontline 12) _______workers. Next up is the surgical mask. There’s not yet much evidence that they protect the wearer, but if they're infected it does catch some of the virus in their 13) _______reducing the risk to other people nearby. But again supplies are meant for health workers. Face coverings are what the 14) ______ _______are being asked to use. They’re made of fabric usually 15) _______, and that traps the virus and the tighter the weave of the material and the greater the number of 16) _______, the better, and it's ideally going to have a wire on the bridge here to make a close fit around your nose. But this is the really important bit masks should never be shared, they should be washed after every use ideally at 60 degrees, before putting them on or taking them off you should wash your 17) _______or use hand gel. Even with a mask social distancing is still just as important.

All this will take some getting used to. Masks have been widely used in 18) _______for many years, but in some 19) _______countries they've quickly become a common sight as the virus has spread. In Spain and Italy more than four in 20) _______  people now wear them. In the UK it's just a third, but this will soon be the new 21) _______.

IV  Watch the video and mark the sentences as True (T) or False (F). Correct the false statements.

1.     The evidence has shown that people can transmit Covid 19 only when they show symptoms.

2.     People might feel well, but they can still breathe out the virus.

3.     Social distancing, at least two meters, ideally five, is the best way to stop spreading the virus.  

4.      The World Health Organization and lots of other scientific bodies now agree that when wearing a face covering is not possible, wearing gloves can reduce the chances of the virus spreading.  

5.     One of the medical journals showed that the risk of passing on the virus when wearing a mask was 3 % compared to 17 % when not wearing one.  

6.     All types of masks are equally effective.  

7.      Respirator masks reduce the risk of being infected as well as passing on the infection.

8.     Everyone can get a respirator mask in England.  

9.     Surgical mask may not protect the wearer from infection.  

10.  Surgical masks can help if people wearing them are infected and reduce the risk to other people nearby.  

11. Surgical masks are what the general public are being asked to use.  

12. Face coverings are made of fabric usually cotton, and that traps the virus.  

13.  People can share masks.  

14.  People should wash masks every week ideally at 30 degrees.  

15.  Before putting masks on or taking them off people should wash their hands or use hand gel.  

16.           With a mask social distancing is not important.  

17.          Masks have been widely used in Europe.  

18.          In Spain and Italy more than four in five people now wear face masks.    

  

V OVER TO YOU. Discuss what types of masks people wear in your country. How many people wear them? What are the rules of wearing masks in your country?