New Delhi: A 24-year-old hacker has been sentenced to federal prison in the US for the massive Twitter hack in July 2020 in which he, along with others, attempted to take control of at least 130 well-known Twitter accounts. Joseph James O’Connor attacked several celebrity accounts including US President Joe Biden, American socialite and model Kim Kardashian and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
O’Connor was sentenced in New York federal court to five years in prison after pleading guilty in May for his role in cyberstalking and computer hacking that targeted several high-profile social media accounts. In court, he said his crimes were “stupid and pointless” and apologized to his victims, TechCrunch reports.
O’Connor, better known by his online handle PlugWalkJoe, was part of a group that in July 2020 impersonated dozens of high-profile Twitter accounts, including Apple, Binance, Bill Gates, Joe Biden and Elon Musk, for spreading a cryptocurrency scam. I had made a dent.
He was extradited from Spain to the US in April this year, where he awaits trial for harassing, threatening and extorting his victims.
In July 2020, O’Connor wrote on Biden’s account: “All bitcoin sent to the address below will be doubled back! If you send $1,000, I’ll send back $2,000. Only do it for 30 minutes. Enjoy Take it!”
Twitter responded at the time by deactivating all verified accounts and disabling the Tweet feature in an effort to target the hackers. As part of his guilty plea, O’Connor has agreed to pay restitution to all victims and forfeiture of more than $794,000.