Hackers seized control of Microsoft’s official X account on October 1, briefly turning one of the platform’s most-followed corporate profiles into a promotional vehicle for a fraudulent cryptocurrency themed around Clippy, the retired animated paperclip assistant. The company confirmed the breach in a statement to The Verge, saying the account has since been secured and the unauthorized posts removed.

The @Microsoft account, which counts more than 13 million followers, began following a crypto account called @clippymsftcto, reposted one of its messages, and had its profile picture swapped to Clippy during the takeover. The attackers used the nostalgic character to push a token dubbed $Clippy, promising that Microsoft would bring the…