Microsoft’s X Account Hacked in Crypto Token Promotion

Unknown attackers took control of Microsoft’s official X account on Thursday and used it to promote a cryptocurrency token in what appeared to be a pump-and-dump scheme. The account has more than 13 million followers.

The incident began when @Microsoft followed and reposted a post from @clippymsftcto, a now-suspended account impersonating Microsoft’s Clippy virtual assistant, The Verge first reported. Another account, @ClippyMSFT, continued promoting the $Clippy token and claimed it had a liquidity pool paired directly with $MSFT.

Microsoft said it had confirmed unauthorized access, secured the account and removed the posts. The company said it is investigating. In a now-deleted post, Microsoft said it does not support cryptocurrency or crypto-related tokens and had not authorized a token associated with Clippy, Microsoft or $MSFT. It said it would pursue appropriate legal action to have the token and related materials removed.

This is not the first compromise of an official Microsoft account on X. In June 2024, attackers hijacked Microsoft India’s account, which had more than 211,000 followers, and used it to promote a fake GameStop crypto presale. The source reports that people who connected wallets to the site and authorized transactions had their crypto assets stolen.

The source also notes other account compromises used to promote cryptocurrency scams, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s @SECGov account. It says that account posted a fake Bitcoin ETF approval announcement that briefly affected Bitcoin prices.