Saturday, April 26, 2025

Teen mastermind behind great Twitter hack of 2020, jailed

Date:

Share post:

San Francisco, March 17 : Graham Ivan Clark, a teenager behind the unprecedented Twitter hack of July last year that compromised high-profile accounts belonging to Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, among others, has been sent to three years in prison as part of his plea deal.
According to The Tampa Bay Times, the teenager took control of celebrity accounts and used them to gain more than $100,000 in Bitcoin.
“In a deal with prosecutors, Clark agreed to serve three years in prison, followed by three years probation,” the report said on Tuesday.
Clark was 17 when he was accused of masterminding the Twitter hack.
The agreement has allowed Clark, now 18, to be sentenced as a “youthful offender,” avoiding a minimum 10-year sentence that would have followed if he’d been convicted as an adult.
“Graham Clark needs to be held accountable for that crime, and other potential scammers out there need to see the consequences,” Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren said in a statement.
“In this case, we’ve been able to deliver those consequences while recognizing that our goal with any child, whenever possible, is to have them learn their lesson without destroying their future.”
Authorities said the scam netted about $117,000 in Bitcoin before it was shut down.
Twitter later revealed more details in the massive crypto hack, saying the hackers accessed the DM (direct message) inbox of up to 36 of the 130 targeted users, including one elected official in the Netherlands.
In total, 130 accounts were targeted by attackers, 45 accounts had Tweets sent by attackers, 36 accounts had the DM inbox accessed and eight accounts had an archive of “Your Twitter Data” downloaded (none of these was verified), informed Twitter.(IANS)

Related articles

Govt issues advisory on media reporting of defence operations

New Delhi, April 26: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Saturday issued an advisory directing all media...

Pakistan open for ‘neutral, transparent and credible investigation’ into Pahalgam terror attack: PM Shehbaz Sharif

Islamabad, April 26: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday expressed the country's readiness to participate in any...

Sleep well, avoid junk food to keep your liver healthy

New Delhi, April 26: Having a good night's sleep and avoiding junk food is essential to keep the...

Over two lakh people, top world leaders attend funeral ceremony of Pope Francis at Vatican

Vatican City, April 26: The funeral mass ceremony of Pope Francis, that began Saturday afternoon, India time, in...