- The criminal hacked Twitter, carried out a complex SIM swap attack, stole crypto, cyberstalked a minor
- He and his accomplices were able to hide scam warnings on Twitter
The UK has extradited UK national Joseph O’Connor to the US, where he pled guilty to a number of cybercrimes, including a 2020 Twitter hack, CoinDesk reported, citing an announcement by the US Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York (SDNY).
The SDNY stated that O’Connor had used advanced technological skills to hack Twitter, carry out a complex SIM swap attack and steal a large amount of crypto assets, cyberstalk people, including a minor, and take over social network accounts by infiltrating computers.
Anatomy of the Twitter hack
In 2020, O’Connor took over a number of high-profile Twitter accounts and used them to promote a scam involving a bitcoin giveaway. He and his accomplices were able to hide scam warnings although some of the accounts had multi-factor authentication. These included a warning from Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.
Almost $1M stolen
The “giveaway” resulted in them making off with around 11.3 bitcoin. In addition to this amount, O’Connor stole around $800,000 in digital assets in SIM-swapping attacks aimed at leading crypto firms.
In March 2021, US authorities arrested Graham Ivan Clark, an accomplice of O’Connor’s. He was 17 then and tried as a young offender. The SDNY also charged 23-year-old O’Connor with playing a role in the SIM swaps.
The SDNY declined to name the victims, stating one was a company that provided crypto wallet infrastructure. BlockFi and other companies in the sector have been targeted via SIM swapping.
Justice for the victims
Clients of AT&T and T-Mobile have sued the telecoms for failing to put adequate security measures in place, thereby allowing these attacks to occur. US Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey tried to console the victims, saying:
O’Connor has left an impressive trail of destruction in the wake of his wave of criminality. This case serves as a warning that the reach of the law is long, and criminals anywhere who use computers to commit crimes may end up facing the consequences of their actions in places they did not anticipate.
