United States Federal agents on Tuesday arrested yet another suspect believed to be involved in the massive security breach that rocked Twitter in July.
Authorities believe a 16 year old Massachusetts teenager might have helped execute some of the most complex pieces of the July 15 hack.
This new suspect’s identity was not released because he’s a minor, and hasn’t been charged yet. The teenager would be the youngest of the group of conspirators spanning the US, and the UK.
The hackers took over the Twitter accounts of Kanye West, Elon Musk, Barack Obama, and several other high-profile figures, and sent out series of tweets about a Bitcoin giveaway scam.
Meanwhile, it is still unclear which member of the group of hackers gain direct access to Twitter’s internal security systems.
An FBI spokesman told the Times that the feds executed a search warrant on Tuesday at the Massachusetts home where the boy live.
According to Investigations, the 16 year old suspect became a focus by federal authorities because he continued carrying out phishing attacks.
“He often posed as a contractor or employee to convince employees to enter their login credentials into fraudulent websites where the credentials could be captured, a method known as voice phishing or vishing. The login credentials made it possible for the hackers to then access the inner workings of the companies’ systems,” NY Times reports.
According to forensic and social media researches, the boy lives in a 2-story house in Massachusetts, and attends a private school. His parents filed for divorce 2 years ago, and has since been struggling to get money.
A forensic firm also found his email address and IP address linked to oGusers.com – a website used by other Twitter hackers, and home to hackers that buy and sell single letter usernames.
The alleged mastermind is believed by security operatives to be 17-year-old Floridian Graham Ivan Clark. Clark has been charged alongside 22 year old Nima Fazeli, and 19 year old Mason John Sheppard.
Clark pleaded not guilty to the charges leveled against him. However, he has been unable to fulfill bail condition, and has since remained in custody.