One of the most talked about hacking incidents in recent years was the 2020 Twitter hack. The US federal court sent the culprits of the sensational cybercrime to prison.
The accused, 24-year-old Joseph James O’Connor, was convicted of four counts of computer hacking, fraud and cyber surveillance last May. A federal court in New York sentenced him to five years in prison on Friday.
O’Connor agreed to return nearly $800,000 in hacking proceeds to victims.
O’Connor, a British national, was extradited from Spain to the United States earlier this year at the request of US lawyers. Since then he is in court.
Judge ZS Rakoff told the hearing that O’Connor’s more than two years in prison will be waived during the trial. As a result, he will now serve half of the sentence.
Known online as ‘Plugwackzo’, O’Connor was part of a group of hackers who took control of dozens of high-profile Twitter accounts, including Apple, Binance, Bill Gates, Joe Biden and Elon Musk, and spread the ‘get rich quick crypto currency’ message online.