A career as computer hacker British Joseph James O’Connor, aka PlugwalkJoe, 24, has landed him in prison. O’Connor and his accomplices posing as Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, Kanye West or Kim Kardashian, seized their Twitter accounts to try to raise money through fraud. They also hacked the TikTok and Snapchat accounts of celebrities and the Twitter accounts of companies including Apple and Uber in one of the most high-profile hacks. He was arrested in Estepona (Málaga) in July 2021 by the National Police. Nearly two years later, he was sentenced to five years in prison by a New York court, attorneys for the Southern District of New York reported.

O’Connor was extradited by Spain on April 26 and has since been resolved in a fast-track manner. last May 9th pleaded guilty to many crimes cybernetics and this Friday the penalties were announced. O’Connor has been convicted on two counts.

On the one hand, for conspiracy to commit computer hacking and other allegations related to a fraudulent scheme carried out by other accomplices to use a cyber intrusion technique known as a SIM swapping attack to steal cryptocurrency, which is valued at around $794,000, from a cryptocurrency company. Manhattan crypto-based cryptocurrency and then laundering the proceeds of the crime

Separately, a series of allegations relates to O’Connor’s role in the July 2020 Twitter hack, computer disturbances related to the takeover of users’ TikTok and Snapchat accounts, and cyberstalking of two separate victims. One of the victims was blackmailed after taking private pictures. He harasses and threatens others, minors, and even makes fake emergency calls to provoke a response from law enforcement that could harm the victim or others, a practice known as hit. This second group of charges began in California and then moved to New York, where they were grouped together.

Finally, for the first set of charges, O’Connor pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. And, with regard to the second set, the UK nationals have admitted to conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, two counts of complicity in computer intrusion, committing extortion communications, two counts of harassment, and making threatening communications.

In addition to his five-year prison sentence, O’Connor was also sentenced to three years of probation. The sentences, which appear to have been a compromise, are relatively good when taking into account that some of the crimes for which they have been sentenced have carried sentences of up to 20 years in prison. The aggregate maximum sentence for all crimes adds up to a potential maximum of 70 years. By pleading guilty, the convict also agreed to pay $794,012.64 and provide compensation to the victims of his crimes, and that was also reflected in the sentence.

“O’Connor’s criminal activities were flagrant and sinister, and his behavior impacted the lives of many. He abused, threatened and extorted money from his victims, causing significant emotional damage.” stated in a statement Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. from the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, last May, when the accused pleaded guilty. “Like many criminals, O’Connor tries to remain anonymous by using computers to hide behind hidden accounts and aliases from outside the United States. But this guilty plea shows that our investigators and prosecutors will identify, find and bring these kinds of criminals to justice to ensure they face the consequences of their crimes,” he added.

“O’Connor has left an impressive trail of devastation following his wave of crimes,” said US Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey for the Northern District of California. “This case serves as a reminder that the reach of the law is long, and criminals everywhere who use computers to commit crimes may face consequences of their actions where they did not anticipate.”

quick catch

The Spanish police operation, called Portland, was conducted by the Central Cyber ​​Crime Unit in collaboration with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The investigation began in Spain in April 2020, when the United States notified the National Police that the young man, who has been investigated for other crimes, may be in Spanish territory. The investigation led investigators to the Costa del Sol, where he was.

The hacking of more than one hundred Twitter accounts occurred on the night of July 15, 2020 and was carried out with other accomplices. The fraudulent message reached more than 350 million people, enabling criminals to earn $117,000 in just a few hours with messages encouraging followers to send bitcoins to accounts. They promise that everyone who does will be returned double the amount entered. This is a well-known attack, which has its own page on Wikipedia.

The social network itself released a message confirming the attack: “We are aware of a security incident that affected Twitter accounts. We are currently investigating and taking steps to fix this. We will inform everyone immediately.” the social network’s tweetsfollowing up on the incident.

“We have detected what we believe to be a coordinated social engineering attack by individuals who gained some of our employees access to internal systems and tools,” explained the next day. and added in another tweet: “We know they have used this access to control many highly visible accounts (including verified ones) and tweet on their behalf. We are investigating what malicious activity they may have carried out or what information they may have accessed.”

Two weeks after the attack, on July 31, 2020, the US Department of Justice announced the arrest and indictment of three individuals in connection with the fraud. A 19-year-old from England was charged with multiple counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and willful access to a protected computer, and a 22-year-old from Florida was charged with aiding and supporting international access. . A third man, Graham Ivan Clark, a teenager from Hillsborough County, Florida, was also charged. He accepted the plea deal in March 2021 and was sentenced to three years in prison followed by three years of probation.

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