UK jailed for five years for major Twitter hack

A 24-year-old British man will face up to five years in prison in 2020 for his role in the major hacking attack on Twitter. He then managed to take over the Twitter accounts of several prominent artists and business people and persuade his followers to buy bitcoin. .Make. He was also found guilty of having multiple TikTok and Snapchat accounts and cyberstalking a minor.

This is what the US Department of Justice has written in a press release.

Suspect steals over 100,000 euros by hacking Twitter

It belongs to Joseph James O’Connor from the United Kingdom, who was also known online as PlugWalkJoe. He was arrested in Spain two years ago and extradited to the US last April. Almost immediately he confessed that he had played a major role in the 2020 cyber attack on Twitter.

After this, the hackers were able to break into Twitter’s internal system through social engineering. He gained control of the accounts of Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Jeff Bezos, Ye West, Kim Kardashian, Apple and Uber, among others. In this capacity, he asked his followers to deposit bitcoins to “give something back to the society”. In all, they hijacked 130 Twitter accounts.

In a short time the criminals made around 100,000 Euros. The money was sent immediately. Besides O’Connor, three more people have been arrested for the scam.

UK also blamed for SIM-swapping, cyberstalking and swatting

The judge ruled that the suspect was also guilty of SIM swapping. By gaining control of his victims’ phone numbers, he was able to take over their TikTok and Snapchat accounts. He then decided to post several messages with the aim of promoting himself.

Ultimately, O’Connor was found guilty of cyberstalking and swatting. In the latter case, emergency services receive a false report with a request to intervene quickly to prevent a serious crime. Police visited the minor’s home several times, but also a secondary school, a restaurant and a police station in the area.

The suspect has been sentenced to five years in prison

The 24-year-old suspect was sentenced to five years in prison for these offences. Since he is in pre-trial custody from 2021, he has already served part of his sentence.

Besides the fact that he will have to go to jail, the judge also ordered the man to hand over $794,000. He stole the money from a crypto company operating out of Manhattan.

Overall, the man turns out well: prison sentences for computer trespassing, extortion, racketeering, cyberstalking and money laundering add up to decades in prison.

Anton Mouse
Author

Privacy & Security Editor

Political scientist, historian, web editor, copywriter: Anton is at home in many markets. He uses his writing talents for VPNgids.nl to keep readers informed about the latest developments in the field of cyber security and privacy.