In 2020, Twitter accounts for Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and others had been compromised in a serious hack. After the accounts of the previous and present president — in addition to public figures like Elon Musk and Invoice Gates — had been breached, hackers despatched tweets hawking a cryptocurrency rip-off.
Now, quick ahead to Friday, and one of many hackers, Joseph James O’Connor, has been sentenced to 5 years(opens in a brand new tab) in jail for cybercrimes, the BBC studies. O’Connor should forfeit not less than $794,000 to the victims of his crimes, as effectively.
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The 24-year-old UK citizen, often called PlugwalkJoe on-line, was extradited from Spain to the U.S. in April. In Might, O’Connor pleaded responsible(opens in a brand new tab) to 4 counts of laptop hacking, wire fraud, and cyberstalking, based on Tech Crunch.
O’Connor and fellow hackers used social engineering techniques on Twitter staff to achieve entry to its community. In line with an investigation by New York’s Division of Monetary Companies, they known as Twitter employees and claimed to be the IT division(opens in a brand new tab).
Graham Ivan Clark, one other hacker often called Kirk, used that entry to hijack and reassign Twitter accounts, Tech Crunch reported. Mainly, the hackers had entry to any Twitter account they wished. (Clark pleaded responsible(opens in a brand new tab) to fraud prices in 2021, and was sentenced to 3 years in jail.) The hackers stole round $120,000.
Twitter responded on the time by quickly stopping anybody from tweeting and resetting passwords:
Tweet could have been deleted
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Following the assault, Twitter stated it improved cybersecurity controls(opens in a brand new tab).
O’Connor known as his crimes “silly and pointless” in court docket, based on Tech Crunch, and apologized to his victims. U.S. Assistant Lawyer-Common Kenneth Well mannered Jr. informed BBC in a press release that O’Connor’s actions had been “flagrant and malicious” and that he “harassed, threatened and extorted his victims, inflicting substantial emotional hurt.”