Security News > 2021 > March > Teen Behind Twitter Bit-Con Breach Cuts Plea Deal

Thanks to a new plea deal with the Florida State Attorney's Office, the 18-year-old behind last summer's breach of Twitter's high-profile accounts will not be charged as an adult, and instead will serve his sentence in juvenile detention.

Graham Ivan Clark was arrested seven months ago, and has accepted responsibility the July "Bit-Con" Twitter breach.

On July 15, Clark breached Twitter's internal systems to take over the accounts of some of the platform's most famous verified accounts, including those of Barack Obama, Bill Gates Elon Musk and Apple.

Clark then asked their followers to send Bitcoin to an account he controlled, which allowed Clark to steal more than $117,000.

Clark was facing 30 felony charges stemming from the Twitter takeover scam, including organized and communications fraud, and fraudulent use of personal information, which would have meant years more in detention.

The plea deal means Clark accepts responsibility for the "Wide range of hacking and social-engineering techniques to defeat security protocols at Twitter," according to the prosecutor's statement.

News URL

https://threatpost.com/teen-twitter-breach-plea-deal/164863/