Elon Musk, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden were among the more than 130 Twitter accounts that a 24-year-old British guy called Joseph O’Connor hacked in July 2020.
The attack was a component of a Bitcoin hoax that involved tweets requesting Bitcoin from followers in exchange for a promise to double their money.
Celebrity Cyberattack
An estimated 350 million Twitter users were impacted by the fraud, and they saw fraudulent messages coming from the official accounts of well-known users including Apple, Uber, Kanye West, and Bill Gates.
O’Connor, also known as PlugwalkJoe, admitted guilt to counts of hacking after being extradited to the US. Hackers used a plausible story to trick Twitter employees into giving up their log in information, which gave them access to Twitter’s administration tools.
- Joseph O’Connor was imprisoned in the US for hacking 130 Twitter accounts.
- 350 million Twitter users affected by fraud, allegedly receiving fake messages.
- US law department admits hacking offenses, O’Connor forfeits $800,000.
They employed social engineering ploys to get into the site’s admin area. O’Connor’s activities, according to US Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite Jr., were “flagrant and malicious,” causing emotional trauma to his victims.
The US law department acknowledged committing more hacking offenses, including breaking into a well-known TikTok account and stalking a child. O’Connor was required to forfeit close to $800,000.
