The teenage "mastermind" of the recent Twitter breach, who had a difficult family life, poured his energy into video games and cryptocurrency
The apartment complex in Tampa, Fla., where Graham Ivan Clark lived alone and was arrested, Aug. 2, 2020. Florida prosecutors said the teenager was the “mastermind” of a prominent hack last month, in which he tricked his way into Twitter’s systems and took over the Twitter accounts of some of the world’s most famous people, including Barack Obama, Kanye West and Jeff Bezos. (Octavio Jones/The New York Times)
For Graham Ivan Clark, the online mischief-making started early.
By the age of 10, he was playing the video game Minecraft, in part to escape what he told friends was an unhappy home life. In Minecraft, he became known as an adept scammer with an explosive temper who cheated people out of their money, several friends said.
At 15, he joined an online hackers’ forum. By 16, he had gravitated to the world of Bitcoin, appearing to involve himself in a theft of $856,000 of the cryptocurrency, though he was never charged for it, social media and legal records show. On Instagram posts afterward, he showed up with designer sneakers and a bling-encrusted Rolex.
The teenager’s digital misbehavior ended Friday when the police arrested him at a Tampa, Florida, apartment. Florida prosecutors said Clark, now 17, was the “mastermind” of a prominent hack last month, accusing him of tricking his way into Twitter’s systems and taking over the accounts of some of the world’s most famous people, including Barack Obama, Kanye West and Jeff Bezos.
His arrest raised questions about how someone so young could penetrate the defenses of what was supposedly one of Silicon Valley’s most sophisticated technology companies. Clark, who prosecutors said worked with at least two others to hack Twitter but was the leader, is being charged as an adult with 30 felonies.
©2019 New York Times News Service