17-Year-Old Arrested in Huge Twitter Hack

That massive Twitter hack earlier this month that involved some of the site's biggest names? The alleged mastermind is all of 17 years old, reports WFLA. The Tampa Bay Times reports that Graham Ivan Clark was arrested Friday at his apartment in Tampa. “He’s a 17-year-old kid who apparently just graduated high school,” says State Attorney Andrew Warren. “But make no mistake, this was not an ordinary 17-year-old. This was a highly sophisticated attack on a magnitude not seen before.” The hacker gained control of the feeds of Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and others and tried to dupe people into sending money in the form of Bitcoin as part of a scam. Authorities say it earned Clark more than $100,000 in a single day.

Clark faces 30 felony charges, including organized fraud, communications fraud, fraudulent use of personal information with over $100,000 or 30 or more victims, fraudulent use of personal information, and access to computer or electronic device without authority. “This defendant lives here in Tampa, he committed the crime here, and he’ll be prosecuted here,” Warren said, per the AP. While authorities described Clark as the mastermind, two other suspects have been identified as 22-year-old Nima Fazeli of Orlando, Florida, and 19-year-old Mason Sheppard of the UK. (More Twitter stories.)