TechDigits

Tech news
Tuesday, Mar 19, 2024

US teen ‘mastermind’ behind Twitter hack just finished high school

Graham Ivan Clark faces 30 felony charges for hacking 130 Twitter accounts of business titans and celebrities as part of a cryptocurrency scam.
The alleged mastermind behind the July 15 hack of Twitter accounts of business titans, celebrities and a former president didn’t need sophisticated hacking tools to pierce the company’s security system. Rather, he convinced an information technology employee at Twitter that he was a colleague who needed login credentials to access the company’s customer support platform, according to law enforcement officials.

It worked, in spectacular fashion.

Graham Ivan Clark, 17, allegedly hijacked 130 Twitter accounts as part of a cryptocurrency scam, according to a criminal affidavit filed in Tampa, Florida. The accounts that were hacked included those of former US president Barack Obama, Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Clark, who authorities said had just graduated from high school, now faces 30 felony charges for hacking those accounts, posting messages on their behalf and luring additional victims into sending him bitcoin donations worth more than US$100,000, according to law enforcement.

Two others were charged by federal authorities for allegedly aiding in the scheme by serving as brokers on the sale of compromised Twitter accounts: Mason Sheppard, 19, of the UK, and Nima Fazeli, 22, of Orlando.

Lawyers or family members for the defendants couldn’t be located for comment. Clark’s mother, Emiliya Clark, told NBC News that her son was innocent. “I believe he didn’t do it. I’ve spoken to him every day,” she said. “I’m devastated.”

Twitter thanked law enforcement for swiftly making arrests. In its most recent update on the hack, on July 30, the company acknowledged that employees were duped into sharing sensitive information over the phone and that it has decided to temporarily limit access to its internal tools as it seeks to understand the scope of the breach, while improving its security protocols to “make them even more sophisticated.”

Of the 130 accounts that were targeted, 45 had tweets sent from them, according to Twitter. Direct message inboxes were accessed in 36 of the accounts, and Twitter data was downloaded from seven of them, the company said.

Having suffered other embarrassing breaches in recent years, Twitter, the preferred social media platform for President Donald Trump, among other political and business leaders, must now reckon with the possibility that a teenager beat teams of engineers and layers of cybersecurity protections.

Former Twitter security employees have said too many people have access to user accounts, including employees and outside contractors, and that the company management has often dragged its heels on upgrades to information security. Twitter disputed the former employees’ characterisation of the company’s oversight of accounts.

The defendants were allegedly part of an underground subculture of hackers – known as “OGUsers” – who are dedicated to stealing, buying and selling online accounts with desirable usernames. In the OGUser world, a short username on Instagram or Twitter sells for tens of thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency. Winning ownership of usernames, like “@6” or “@dark,” yield their own form of virtual bragging rights.

The hackers in this community are particularly skilled in social engineering, which relies on the art of impersonation and deception rather than traditional hacking, according to cybersecurity experts. Those tools have been successfully leveraged against individuals to steal their social media usernames or credit card details, but not typically in such a brazen fashion.

In one instance, according to the federal complaint, a user named Kirk#5270 said in an online forum, “I work for Twitter. I can claim any @ for you.” Another user, Rolex#0373, who authorities said is an alias used by Fazeli, responded, “Prove it.” During their exchange, Kirk#5270 provided Rolex#0373 with access to the Twitter handle @Foreign for US$500, according to authorities. Kirk#5270 isn’t identified in the complaint, though federal authorities said he played a central role in the Twitter hack.

“Chaewon,” an alleged alias of Sheppard’s, posted an OGUser thread entitled, “Pulling email for any Twitter/Taking Requests.” In it, Chaewon “advertised that he could change email addresses tied to any Twitter account for US$250 and provide direct access to accounts for between US$2,500 and US$3,000,” according to a federal government filing.

Clark has allegedly been active in hacking since before he was a teenager, according to Logan Derouanna, 19, who lives in Florida and said he is no longer part of the OGUser scene.

Derouanna said Clark stole his Instagram account in 2014. “I had my Instagram account hacked when I was 13, and he was literally only 11,” Derouanna said, adding that his account had more than 500,000 followers at the time. “All I did was click a link he sent me.”

Two other hackers independently confirmed Clark has been active since at least 2014.

State authorities have charged Clark as an adult under Florida law, rather than federal, because “Florida law allows us greater flexibility to charge a minor as an adult in a financial fraud case,” said Hillsborough District Attorney Andrew Warren.

“He gained access to Twitter accounts and to the internal controls of Twitter through compromising a Twitter employee.”

US Attorney David Anderson, of the Northern District of California, said there is a “a false belief” among hackers that they can pull off attacks like the Twitter hack “anonymously and without consequence.”

The charging announcement “demonstrates that the elation of nefarious hacking into a secure environment for fun or profit will be short-lived,” he said.
Newsletter

Related Articles

TechDigits
0:00
0:00
Close
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The future of sports
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
UK Crypto and Stablecoin Regulations Become Law as Royal Assent is Granted
A Delaware city wants to let businesses vote in its elections
Alef Aeronautics Achieves Historic Milestone with Flight Certification for World's First Flying Car
Google Blocked Access to Canadian News in Response to New Legislation
French Politicians Advocate for Pan-European Regulation on Social Media Influencers
Melinda French Gates Advocates for Increased Female Representation in AI to Prevent Bias
Snapchat+ gains 4 million paying subscribers in its first year
Apple Makes History as the First Public Company Valued at $3 Trillion
Elon Musk Implements Twitter Limits to Tackle Data Scraping, but Faces Criticism for Technical Misunderstanding
EU and UK's Slow Electric Vehicle Adoption Raises Questions About the Transition to Green Mobility
Top Companies Express Concerns Over Europe's Proposed AI Law, Citing Competitiveness and Investment Risks
Meta Unveils Insights on AI Usage in Facebook and Instagram, Amid Growing Calls for Transparency
Crypto Scams Against Seniors Soar by 78% in 2022, Experts Urge Vigilance
The End of an Era: National Geographic Dismisses Last of Its Staff Writers
Shield Your Wallet: The Perils of Wireless Credit Card Theft
Harvard Scientist Who Studies Honesty Accused Of Data Fraud, Put On Leave
Putting an End to the Subscription Snare: The Battle Against Unwitting Commitments
The Legal Perils of AI: Lawyer Faces Sanctions for Relying on Fictional Cases Generated by Chatbot
ChatGPT’s "Grandma Exploit": Ingenious Hack Exposes Loophole in AI, Generates Free Software Codes
The Disney Downturn: A Near Billion-Dollar Box Office Blow for the House of Mouse
A Digital Showdown: Canada Challenges Tech Giants with The Online News Act, Meta Strikes Back
Distress in the Depths: Submersible and Passengers Missing in Titanic Wreckage Expedition
Mark Zuckerberg stealing another idea: Twitter
European Union's AI Regulations Risk Self-Sabotage, Cautions smart and brave Venture Capitalist Joe Lonsdale
Nvidia GPUs are so hard to get that rich venture capitalists are buying them for the startups they invest in
Chinese car exports surge
Reddit Blackout: Thousands of Communities Protest "Ludicrous" Pricing Changes
Nvidia Joins Tech Giants as First Chipmaker to Reach $1 Trillion Valuation
AI ‘extinction’ should be same priority as nuclear war – experts
×