In mid-2020, the Twitter was suddenly the target of a strange attack, where several accounts of important personalities on the platform, such as Barack Obama and Elon Musk, began to publish messages associated with cryptocurrency schemes – in what appeared to be compromised accounts.
However, it quickly became known that the case was something more serious, and that someone was using administrative powers on Twitter to send messages on behalf of some of the greatest personalities on the planet.
This turned out to be done by Joseph James O'Conner, also known online as “PlugwalkJoe”.
The hacker will have gained access to internal Twitter tools, through various schemes aimed at company employees, and managed to send messages from accounts such as Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Barack Obama and over 100 other personalities, having obtained more than 794.000 dollars into cryptocurrencies as part of the scheme.
According to the US Department of Justice, after obtaining the cryptocurrency funds through messages sent on users' accounts, O'Conner and his assistants proceeded with an attempt to launder the virtual currencies on various exchange platforms - before they were eventually detained by the authorities.
O'Connor pleaded guilty to the statements, and it is now known that he will remain in prison for five years, to which is added another three years of supervision. This one must still return the 794.000 dollars that were obtained during the attack.
