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A26 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 1 auguSt 2020
3 charged in massive Twitter hack, Bitcoin scam

By DAVID FISCHER electronic communica-
Associated Press tions to deceive recipients
MIAMI (AP) — A British into handing over sensitive
man, a Florida man and information.
a Florida teen hacked the Twitter said it would provide
Twitter accounts of promi- a more detailed report later
nent politicians, celebrities "given the ongoing law en-
and technology moguls to forcement investigation."
scam people around globe The company has previ-
out of more than $100,000 ously said the incident was
in Bitcoin, authorities said a "coordinated social en-
Friday. gineering attack" that tar-
Graham Ivan Clark, 17, was geted some of its employ-
arrested Friday in Tampa, ees with access to internal
where the Hillsborough systems and tools. It didn't
State Attorney's Office will provide any more informa-
prosecute him as adult. He tion about how the attack
faces 30 felony charges, was carried out, but the
according to a news re- details released so far sug-
lease. Mason Sheppard, 19, gest the hackers started
of Bognor Regis, U.K., and In this Wednesday Nov. 6, 2013, file photo, the Twitter logo appears on an updated phone post on by using the old-fashioned
Nima Fazeli, 22, of Orlando, the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Associated Press method of talking their way
were charged in California past security.
federal court. Twitter hack can be perpe- cases such as this when ap- ed. British cybersecurity ana-
In one of the most high- trated anonymously and propriate. After stealing employee lyst Graham Cluley said
profile security breaches in without consequence," U.S. "This defendant lives here credentials and getting his guess was that a tar-
recent years, hackers sent Attorney David L. Anderson in Tampa, he committed into Twitter's systems, the geted Twitter employee
out bogus tweets on July for the Northern District of the crime here, and he'll be hackers were able to tar- or contractor received a
15 from the accounts of California said in a news prosecuted here," Warren get other employees who message by phone asking
Barack Obama, Joe Biden, release. "Today's charging said. had access to account them to call a number.
Mike Bloomberg and a announcement demon- Twitter previously said hack- support tools, the company "When the worker called
number of tech billionaires strates that the elation of ers used the phone to fool said. the number they might
including Amazon CEO nefarious hacking into a se- the social media compa- The hackers targeted 130 have been taken to a con-
Jeff Bezos, Microsoft co- cure environment for fun or ny's employees into giving accounts. They managed vincing (but fake) helpdesk
founder Bill Gates and Tesla profit will be short-lived." them access. It said hack- to tweet from 45 accounts, operator, who was then
CEO Elon Musk. Celebrities Although the case against ers targeted "a small num- access the direct message able to use social engineer-
Kanye West and his wife, the teen was also investi- ber of employees through inboxes of 36, and down- ing techniques to trick the
Kim Kardashian West, were gated by the FBI and the a phone spear-phishing at- load the Twitter data from intended victim into hand-
also hacked. U.S. Department of Justice, tack." seven. Dutch anti-Islam ing over their credentials,"
The tweets offered to send Hillsborough State Attorney "This attack relied on a sig- lawmaker Geert Wilders Clulely wrote Friday on his
$2,000 for every $1,000 sent Andrew Warren explained nificant and concerted at- has said his inbox was blog.
to an anonymous Bitcoin that his office is prosecuting tempt to mislead certain among those accessed. It's also possible the hackers
address. Clark in Florida state court employees and exploit hu- Spear-phishing is a more pretended to call from the
"There is a false belief within because Florida law al- man vulnerabilities to gain targeted version of phish- company's legitimate help
the criminal hacker com- lows minors to be charged access to our internal sys- ing, an impersonation scam line by spoofing the num-
munity that attacks like the as adults in financial fraud tems," the company tweet- that uses email or other ber, he said.q

Marine sea tank sinks with 16 aboard; 1 dead and 8 missing

itary-owned island off the Military ships, small boats ue our search," Col. Christo-
coast of Southern Califor- and helicopters on Friday pher Bronzi, the unit's com-
nia, leaving one of the Ma- were searching choppy manding officer, said in a
rines dead and eight miss- seas for the missing amid statement from the Marine
ing, authorities said Friday. moderate to strong winds. Corps. Thursday's accident
They were traveling in the The Navy-owned island is marks the third time in less
vehicle that resembles a about 70 miles (112 kilo- than a decade that Camp
seafaring tank from the meters) offshore from San Pendleton Marines have
shores of San Clemente Is- Diego. been injured or died in am-
land to a Navy ship Thurs- All of the Marines on the ve- phibious assault vehicles
day evening when they hicle were assigned to the during training exercises.
reported the vehicle was 15th Marine Expeditionary In 2017, 14 Marines and one
taking on water, said Lt. Unit and were involved in Navy sailor were hospital-
Cameron H. Edinburgh, a a routine military exercise ized after their amphibious
Marine Corps spokesman when the vehicle started assault vehicle hit a natural
A U.S. Marine Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAV) takes part in a for Camp Pendleton. taking on water, the Marine gas line, igniting a fire that
landing operation during a military Exercise Baltops 2018, at the Two Marines who were res- Corps said. engulfed the landing craft
Baltic Sea near Vilnius, Lithuania, Monday, June 4, 2018. cued were injured, with "We are deeply saddened during a training exercise
Associated Press one hospitalized in critical by this tragic incident. I ask at Camp Pendleton, the
By JULIE WATSON phibious assault vehicle condition and the other in that you keep our Marines, sprawling coastal Marine
Associated Press carrying 15 Marines and a stable condition, a Marine Sailors, and their families in Corps base north of San
SAN DIEGO (AP) — An am- Navy sailor sank near a mil- Corps statement said. your prayers as we contin- Diego.q