London Daily

Focus on the big picture.

Briton pleads guilty in US to 2020 Twitter hack

Briton pleads guilty in US to 2020 Twitter hack

A British national extradited to the US last month has pleaded guilty in New York to a role in one of the biggest hacks in social media history.
The July 2020 Twitter hack affected over 130 accounts including those of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Joseph James O'Connor, 23, known as PlugwalkJoe, pleaded guilty to hacking charges carrying a total maximum sentence of over 70 years in prison.

The hacking was part of a large-scale Bitcoin scam.

O'Connor, who was extradited from Spain, hijacked numerous Twitter accounts and sent out tweets asking followers to send Bitcoin to an account, promising to double their money.

O'Connor, from Liverpool, was charged alongside three other men over the scam.

US teenager Graham Ivan Clark pleaded guilty in 2021. Nima Fazeli of Orlando, Florida, and Mason Sheppard, of Bognor Regis in the UK, were charged with federal crimes.

US Assistant Attorney-General Kenneth Polite Jr described in a statement O'Connor's actions as "flagrant and malicious", saying he had "harassed, threatened and extorted his victims, causing substantial emotional harm".

"Like many criminal actors, O'Connor tried to stay anonymous by using a computer to hide behind stealth accounts and aliases from outside the United States.

"But this plea shows that our investigators and prosecutors will identify, locate, and bring to justice such criminals to ensure they face the consequences for their crimes."

In 2020, an estimated 350 million Twitter users saw suspicious tweets from official accounts of the platform's biggest users. Thousands fell for a scam, trusting that a crypto giveaway was real.

Cyber experts agreed that the consequences of the Twitter hack could have been far worse if O'Connor and other hackers had more sophisticated plans than a get-rich-quick scheme.

Disinformation could have been spread to affect political discourse and markets could have been moved by well-worded fake business announcements, for example.

The hack showed how fragile Twitter's security was at the time. The attackers telephoned a small number of Twitter employees with a believable tale to convince them to hand over their internal login details - which eventually granted the hackers access to Twitter's powerful administrative tools.

Essentially, the hackers managed to use social engineering tricks more akin to those of conmen than of high-level cyber-criminals to get access to the powerful internal control panel at the site.

It was, and still is, a hugely embarrassing moment in Twitter's troubled history.

O'Connor's admission has not come as a shock though as there was a wealth of evidence in the public domain thanks to the hackers making some bad mistakes or being too loud in their celebrations in the aftermath of the hack.

O'Connor also pleaded guilty to other hacking crimes including gaining access to a high-profile TikTok account.

He posted a video to that account where his own voice is recognisable and threatened to release "sensitive, personal material" related to the owner of the account to people who joined a Discord group.
Newsletter

Related Articles

London Daily
0:00
0:00
Close
Boris Johnson Claims He Found Listening Device in Bathroom After Netanyahu's Visit
Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei declared today: "If Israel retaliates, we will raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground."
Scott Jennings leaves CNN panel speechless as he tears apart Tim Walz's flimsy excuse of being "too dumb to tell the truth."
GP Accused of Murder Plot with Lethal Injection
Key Insights from Boris Johnson's Memoir 'Unleashed'
Bank of England Governor Warns of Potential Middle East Oil Shock
BBC Cancels Interview with Boris Johnson Due to Briefing Note Mix-up
Boris Johnson's Memoir Unleashes Controversial Claims
Labour Peer Lord Alli Under Investigation
Laura Kuenssberg Cancels Scheduled Interview with Boris Johnson
Conservative Leadership Candidates Propose Reforms Post-Election Defeat
UK Prime Minister Seeks Closer UK-EU Relations
Labour MP Proposes New Assisted Dying Legislation
Rise in Vaping Among Young Adults Who Never Regularly Smoked
UK Reaffirms Commitment to Falkland Islands Amid Chagos Deal
Proposal for Reusing Graves to Address Burial Space Shortages
Dominican Republic Announces Massive Deportation Operation of Haitian Migrants
EU Urges UK PM Keir Starmer to Consider Youth Mobility Scheme
British Forces Help Thwart Iranian Missile Attack on Israel
Simon Case Rejoins Garrick Club Amid Mixed Reactions
Investigation into Labour Donor Waheed Alli's Register of Interests
Iceman Drug Boss Jailed: Major Crackdown on £76M Trafficking Operation
UK Evacuates Citizens from Lebanon Amid Growing Tensions
Rise in Vaping Among Non-Smokers in England
Earth Faces Severe Geomagnetic Storm from Solar Flare
Keir Starmer’s Corruption Exposed: Bribes (Yet Again), Broken Promises, and a Rigged System Shielding the Powerful
Bank of America Outage Leaves Customers Unable to Access Accounts, Sparks Concern
Iranian Mullah Claims Israel Used Genies to Hunt Hezbollah Leader
Privacy Concerns Over AI Monitoring of UK Bank Accounts
Robert Jenrick Reveals Daughter's Middle Name as Thatcher
Badenoch Criticizes Civil Servants, Jokes They Are 'Prison-Worthy'
UK Treasury Plans Major Infrastructure Cuts
Kemi Badenoch Criticizes Civil Servants at Conservative Party Conference
Thames Mudlarking Permits Resumed with New Restrictions
Decline in Education for Youth Offenders in England
Jimmy Carter Celebrates 100th Birthday
Iran's Missile Attack on Israel: Defeated but a Significant Escalation
Iran President Lauds Missile Attack on Israel as Decisive Response
Russia Criticizes Biden's Middle East Policies After Iran Attacks Israel
US Dockworkers Strike Halts Half of Nation’s Ocean Shipping
Boris Johnson claims in memoir Queen Elizabeth II had bone cancer
Missile Attack on Israel: A Turning Point for the Ayatollah’s Regime?
Teachers in England Approve 5.5% Pay Rise
Robert Jenrick Criticized for Statements on UK Special Forces
Robert Jenrick Faces Transparency Issues Over Campaign Donations
Phillip Schofield Addresses Firing from ITV
UK Charters Evacuation Flight for Britons in Lebanon
UK Shop Prices Fall at Fastest Rate Since 2021
Keir Starmer Urged to Address Rising Energy Bills
Tom Tugendhat Warns Against Tories Turning into Reform UK
×