Cyber security researchers suggest a 21 year old UK resident possibly behind twitter hacks : Reports
By MYBRANDBOOK
New evidence surfaced by cybersecurity researchers suggests that the massive hack that compromised dozens of verified Twitter accounts was not carried out by a sophisticated nation-state actor, as some had thought, but rather by a ragtag group of young hackers.
The fraudulent tweets continued to appear for more than an hour with Twitter apparently helpless to stop them. In many cases, the tweets were quickly deleted, only for similar tweets to be sent out minutes later. Twitter ultimately blocked all verified accounts from sending tweets for roughly 30 minutes as it attempted to take control of the situation.
Before order was restored, more than 13 bitcoin - or roughly $117,000 - appeared to be transferred to the bitcoin wallet linked in the malicious tweets.
“We know they used this access to take control of many highly-visible (including verified) accounts and Tweet on their behalf. We're looking into what other malicious activity they may have conducted or information they may have accessed and will share more here as we have it," Twitter said in the statement.
Now, new evidence surfaced by researcher Brian Krebs and cybersecurity firm Unit 211B shows users bragging in hacker forums and on Twitter that they could compromise any Twitter account in the days leading up to the hack.
PlugWalkJoe is known for SIM swapping attacks, or heists in which hackers bribe or trick mobile carrier employees to give them control of a different person's cell phone number in order to compromise their other accounts. PlugWalkJoe is also affiliated with ChucklingSquad, a group of SIM swappers thought to be behind the 2019 hack of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
According to Krebs' security sources, PlugWalkJoe is a 21-year-old from Liverpool, UK, named Joseph James Connor, who is currently living in Spain. The source told Krebs that an undercover female investigator recently convinced Connor - operating under his PlugWalkJoe handle - to agree to a video call, which showed a pool in the background that Connor has also posted to his Instagram. It's not clear whether Connor acted alone or with others to carry out the hack, nor is it clear whether the attack has run its course.
Twitter now faces demands from state and federal lawmakers to more thoroughly explain how the accounts were compromised and why it took so long to regain control. Both the FBI and New York State regulators opened investigations into the hack Thursday, and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said it would request information from Twitter.
And cybersecurity experts told Business Insider that the attack likely isn't over. In security, you're paid to be paranoid," Kevin O'Brien, the CEO of the cloud email security company GreatHorn, told in a news report on Thursday. "And the paranoia says there was something else happening at the same time, or these accounts were being accessed in ways that are far more damaging."
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