Twitter Hackers Arrested! [Updated]

[spike420211]

A Florida teen just got arrested for Twitter’s huge hack

Early this morning, the FBI, IRS, US Secret Service, and Florida law enforcement placed a 17-year-old in Tampa, Florida, under arrest — accusing him of being the “mastermind” behind the biggest security and privacy breach in Twitter’s history, one that took over the accounts of President Barack Obama, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and more to perpetrate a huge bitcoin scam on July 15th.

The teen is currently in jail, being charged with over 30 felony count, including organized fraud, communications fraud, identity theft, and hacking, according to Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren in a just-broadcast news conference describing the arrest.

It’s not clear whether the 17-year-old is the only suspect in the case. “I can’t comment on whether he worked alone,” said Warren. He was arrested at his apartment where he lives by himself, authorities stated.



UPDATE: 3:30 PM EST — According to the U.S. Department of Justice, two other individuals — 19-year-old U.K. resident Mason Sheppard and 22-year-old Florida resident Nima Fazeli — have also been charged for their alleged participation in the hacks.

Sheppard has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and the intentional access of a protected computer.
Fazeli has been charged with aiding and abetting the intentional access of a protected computer. Both were charged via a complaint filed in the Northern District of California, according to the DOJ's statement.

Among the listed participants in the investigation was blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/31/21349920/twitter-hack-arrest-florida-teen-fbi-irs-secret-service

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/73626/florida-arrest-twitter-hacks-bitcoin

[1715674005]

1715674005

[1715674005]

1715674005

[1715674005]

1715674005

[DarkDays]

Damn dude.

This kid is going to get one hefty sentence. This is identity theft of an extremely serious degree, and could even be considered an act of terrorism considering he exfilitrated the personal data of presidents, ex presidents and members of congress.

There is a 100% chance that they are going to make an example of this kid, I'm expecting 5-10 years in prison at the very least.

I guess the $1 million bounty Justin Sun put on his head was enough to send people on an epic man(boy?)hunt.

Let's see if he can social engineer his way out of jail.

[desticy]

"Not an ordinary kid" ... I wonder what kind of kid there is, whether he worked alone, and how they found him out.
It's a pity to hide such a kid behind bars, I hope he will make a deal and help the United States win the war against China.
Otherwise, America will have problems as a super villain.  

Otherwise, America will have problems as a super villain. By the way, he can ask to mitigate his sentence, because he just asked people for bitcoins, and did not arrange a global terror.
Also, he didn't force anyone to send bitcoins to who knows where.

[hatshepsut93]

“These crimes were perpetrated using the names of famous people and celebrities, but they’re not the primary victims here. This ‘Bit-Con’ was designed to steal money from regular Americans from all over the country, including here in Florida. This massive fraud was orchestrated right here in our backyard, and we will not stand for that,” State Attorney Warren said.

If this is true, then it's quite sad that people in position of power are making such hasty judgements about things that they don't even understand. I guess power really does blind people.

I wonder if Trump's accounts got hacked (though it likely couldn't have, because as the article says, it has additional security), then would be call for a ban on Bitcoin? He already made some negative tweets about it last year, and generally his behavior seems exactly the same type as this state attorney's.

[dothebeats]

The moment those coins moved, I know that someone is going to be pinned. Earlier, I said on a comment that one exchange should have relayed the information to the authorities to get someone arrested on the hack, well I guess they proved me wrong and here we are. Also, since the dude hacked inside an ex-POTUS and other big names' accounts that could possibly contain sensitive information, they wouldn't get him off lightly that's for sure. Then again, we could see some form of 'reformation' for the dude in the end, and be employed even for the government!

I guess the $1 million bounty Justin Sun put on his head was enough to send people on an epic man(boy?)hunt.

I wonder whether Justin Sun would really be good on his words, and to whom would he give the bounty anyways?  

[Twentyonepaylots]

I guess the $1 million bounty Justin Sun put on his head was enough to send people on an epic man(boy?)hunt.

Just a boy hunt, I didn't think that the biggest twitter breaching in history will just be made by a 17-yr old boy. I thought it was coordinated attacks from an organization scattered around the globe, this is a hell of a blast! But I'm still in doubt that he did that all alone, there must have been more suspects hiding behind this 17-yr old boy. And I'm wondering if they can really sanctioned that boy that crime, he's under age and must be under the protection of state custody first.

Let's see if he can social engineer his way out of jail.

If this is true, I don't think such organization like CIA would just let this big brainer kid to sit and serve his sentence in jail. 

[bL4nkcode]

I hope he will make a deal and help the United States win the war against China.

Social engineering can't do anything related to war (cyber) imo.

By the way, he may ask to soften his sentence for what he just asked people for bitcoins, and did not arrange a global terror.

I guess that's not all about the "bitcoin asking/scamming" of this kid but hacking twitter which is against their rules and policies.

[MainIbem]

Damn dude.

This kid is going to get one hefty sentence.

I will not be surprised if he is going to be working under serious guide to unlock some other applications. The guy brain is too hot to be wasted just like that.

[Coyster]

It's not possible to get away with a high profile crime like this one, if ordinary people were hacked, you'll not expect the CIA and other security agencies to give their all in the chase to pin the hackers, but the accounts affected are owned by prominent men in the U.S and in the world at large. It was only a matter of time, but getting those behind it was inevitable imo. There will still be a lot of unravelling to be done, this kid is prolly not the mastermind behind this, he is just the first to go down.

[ololajulo]

I just wonder why this news is hiding here not in the public, I need more verification for such an hack that shook one of the top social media and most influential person in the world, while the news of the apprehension is on few papers. I believe such intelligent kid does not get as much pay as those protecting twitter, as much as the boy could be jailed twitter need to found out other loopholes in their project, more also the scam address should be refunded.

[spike420211]

UPDATE: 3:30 PM EST — According to the U.S. Department of Justice, two other individuals — 19-year-old U.K. resident Mason Sheppard and 22-year-old Florida resident Nima Fazeli — have also been charged for their alleged participation in the hacks.

Sheppard has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and the intentional access of a protected computer.
Fazeli has been charged with aiding and abetting the intentional access of a protected computer. Both were charged via a complaint filed in the Northern District of California, according to the DOJ's statement.

Among the listed participants in the investigation was blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/73626/florida-arrest-twitter-hacks-bitcoin

All this reminds of the series Mr. Robot.

[Leonardo7]

I can't believe just a 17year old teen carried out that high profile hack. There must be more to this hack talking about bitcoin and giveway. Just a teen couldn't have done that alone for what reason? A proper investigation should be conducted to avoid leaving the bigger devil.

[DarkDays]

I guess the $1 million bounty Justin Sun put on his head was enough to send people on an epic man(boy?)hunt.

Just a boy hunt, I didn't think that the biggest twitter breaching in history will just be made by a 17-yr old boy. I thought it was coordinated attacks from an organization scattered around the globe, this is a hell of a blast! But I'm still in doubt that he did that all alone, there must have been more suspects hiding behind this 17-yr old boy. And I'm wondering if they can really sanctioned that boy that crime, he's under age and must be under the protection of state custody first.

Let's see if he can social engineer his way out of jail.

If this is true, I don't think such organization like CIA would just let this big brainer kid to sit and serve his sentence in jail. 

Pretty sure that minors can be tried as adults in exceptional circumstances. Given the publicity of this breach, I expect it qualifies for special treatment.

It's really not too difficult to social engineer somebody. There are plenty of 17-year-olds, and even younger that are vastly more intelligent than your average Twitter employee. It wouldn't come as much surprise if we found out that the kid was operating alone.

He's probably not some sort of prodigy or savant, since it doesn't take an era-defining genius to trick some Twitter plebs or perform a sim swap attack.

I don't think they should make an example of him, but you can bet Twitter users are gunning for the firing squad.

[gabbie2010]

FBI, SSS and sister security agencies should make a thorough investigation to unravel other culprits and the accomplished of the 17 year old suspects the other culprits should be arrested ASAP, hacking of such magnitude will surely involves some links who might had contributed one way or the other towards the twitter hack possibly an insider might be involved too I don't believe that the kid committed the crime alone the hack is more of a sophisticated and high profile one.

[Baofeng]

I knew that sooner or later those hackers are going to be caught, specially when he targeted high profile accounts that included an ex-President of the United States of America. And then a news surfaced after the hack that it was indeed teenagers who perpetuated this, they even interview him.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/technology/twitter-hackers-interview.html

FBI stepped up to join the picture and this is the result. Good job.

I agree with @DarkDays, he can be tried as adult here because of the severity of his crimes. Meaning longer jail time for this 17 year old. There are two more suspects, one US based and one in UK.

[btc_angela]

I can't believe just a 17year old teen carried out that high profile hack. There must be more to this hack talking about bitcoin and giveway. Just a teen couldn't have done that alone for what reason? A proper investigation should be conducted to avoid leaving the bigger devil.

I believed that those teenagers loves adventure and they are bolder in their target. But this hacks is one on the top I would say, maybe he wanted to make a name for himself in the wrong way. There are still two persons involved in this and I don't think that they are going to arrested someone without any thorough proof. US inter agencies really works this case and its time to put justice regardless if he is a teenager or an adult. And let this be a lesson for Twitter, I'm sure Jack is very happy about the news but they need to improve more on their security so that this kind of incidents won't happen.

[Oasisman]

For sure this kid isn't alone. The other two were just accessories, obviously hackers won't get caught being too stupid for sending scammed Btc in a centralized exchange lol.
Nevertheless, the US law enforcement did a really good job for busting a blockbuster account breaching in Twitter.
I'm just wondering, the article didn't mentioned about confiscating the scammed Btc. Are the victims will receive back their Btc if they can provide a valid claim through the blockchain record?

[tippytoes]

Damn dude.

This kid is going to get one hefty sentence.

I will not be surprised if he is going to be working under serious guide to unlock some other applications. The guy brain is too hot to be wasted just like that.

I feel pity on him if he will only end his life in jail. I hope they can work around here and just hire him for other vital projects. He's too young to just spend his entire life in prison. He can still change and do something different for his life. Let's see what will be the verdict on him and his accessories.

[Harlot]

I was reading the news and I was wondering why a 17 year old can be charged in a case like this even if he is a minor and article in Verge clarified that the law in Florida allows to be charged and possible get prison sentence even if you are a minor on financial fraud cases. I think this minor isn't really an ordinary person since he can do what he did but the wrong thing he done is assume that he can get away with this just for being a minor. Plus finding accomplices with him over the age of 18 just only make him look like he really planned the hack. But since this is just the early stages on the discoveries I doubt we have seen everything and there might really be a real mastermind here controlling these kids.

[Ryker1]

Well, I can't imagine at that age that kid was expert on hacking, --that's an absolutely ^{[extra ordernary]} kid that we don't know why he becomes that famous hacker. That's just only a kid, how much more if that kid becomes mature I don't know how many becomes a victim of him. Indeed, that kid wasn't alone in this scam operation. Perhaps they are a group and maybe they target those big-time profiles at once in a time.
I have been researched what that kid his face looks like but I did not find it.