Thread by @marcowenjones

[Thread] - 1) Good evening sports fans! Ready for the ultimate hacked verified Twitter accounts thread? Over the past two years, I have kept tabs on around 70 verified accounts that were hacked by Arabic language operators for various reasons. The victims #disinformation

2 / range from 30 international athletes, to other public figures such as deceased US Senator Debbie Smith. The accounts have been used for various purposes, from scams to state propaganda. Some of the accounts are still active, while many have been suspended - read on for more!

3/ First up, Senator Debbie Smith. Smith, who served as a member of the Nevada Senate, sadly passed away in 2016 after battling with a brain tumour. Her Twitter account was hacked by an Arabic-speaking account, which changed it's handle to
@0YY0k - and was eventually suspended

4/ If you search twitter for the late Senator's twitter handle, "sendebbiesmith", you will find people interacting with the account in Arabic still. From a security perspective, it's a little worrying how a politican's account can be compromised

5/ British rugby fans may recognize Jason Netherton, a former rugby league player for Hull Kingston Rovers. @netherton_jason's account @jasnev16 was hacked, and while Netherton complained, it doesn't look like he got his account back. It's now an Arabic 'parody' account

6/ Sticking with British rugby. Hayden Stringer, a prop (former?) with @Saracens was hacked too. His original account, @haydenstringer is still active, but has lost verification status. It spent some time as a #Saudi princess - presumably as part of some sort of monetary scam

7/ Sticking with rugby, but moving to Australia, we have league player @PritchardFrank. Frank had his account restored, but looked like it spent some time as a random dude, as well as another Saudi princess Lulwa Al Faisal Bint Abd Al Aziz Al Saud.

8/ Sticking with the theme of Saudi princesses. Professional football Dylan Mottley-Henry, who plays for @larnefc, and used to play for @officialbantams , enjoyed a stint as a Saudi princess Sahab Abdulla bin Abdul Aziz. His account still exists, but is unverified and protected

9/ Moving to the US Baseball player Ronald Guzman ( @_ronaldguzman ) also spent time as a member of the Saudi royal family - according to @JJtheTexan. During his tenure as a Saudi 'royal', Guzman retweeted Saudi humanitarian charity @KsRelief alot. Guzman got his account back

10/ Meet Linebacker AC Leonard, who plays for Canadian football team @sskroughriders . His account @ace_leonard99 - still belongs to 'Reem bin Al-Waleed', who seems to be claiming to be a daughter of Saudi business man AlWaleed bin Talal Al Saud. The account has lost V status

11/ Let's take a music break. Meet Australian band @drawingnorth, who are spending time as Kuwait princess Lulua Mubarak Al Jaber Al Sabah. As far as I know, Drawing North, who featured on @triplejunearthd , did not change their name to Lulua. The account is still verified!

12/ Moving to basketball. Here is @ThadJr12 , an American pro basketball player who plays for @SanPabloBurgos . Thad briefly spent time as Princess Haifa Al Saud, with people addressing him as princess. Thad acknowledges the hack in his bio, but thankfully has his account back.

13/ Another likely financial scam. French cyclist Alexis Gougeard has had his account hacked by someone claiming to be Princess Fahda bint Abdullah Al Saud. The account @gougeardA is still active and verified, and posting pro-Monarchy propaganda #cyclists

14/ The royal family account appear to be financial scams. In one instance, French actor @audreychauveau had her account hacked by Nouf bint bandar Al Saud. After sliding into someone's DMs a Twitter user warned others about the scam. Chauveau's account is now unverified

14/ Will pause this for now, and add more tomorrow!

15 a) Resuming #Olympics coverage today with more hacked verified Twitter accounts of athletes. Meet Jaide Childs, a 2012 US Paralympian swimmer. Jaide's account has been taken over by an Arabic account advertising bitcoin Baby Cake - among other things. #cryptocurrency

15 b) The account also links to a website selling 'distinctive' social media accounts, from instagram to Playstation - presumably some hacked ones? Jaide has met swim ambassador @RyanLochte , maybe he can raise the profile of the issue, it's been hacked for over a year

16) Meet French Rower @mickarowing, his new account purports to be a Kuwaiti new portal. It is still active, but no longer verified. Account has been hacked for over a year, Micka tweeted he would be at #Tokyo2020 hola Micka! #Olympics #Rowing

17) Meet #snooker player Oliver Lines . Lines had his account hacked. He complained to Twitter, as did his colleagues. He did not get his hacked account back & states that on his new profile @OliverLines. His hacked account @oliverlines147 is still up, although no longer verified

18) Meet US Rowing Blue and 2016 Olympian Felice Mueller. Mueller's account @feliced23 was likely hacked in 2020 by someone alleging to be a pro-Saudi monarchy account. Note all the Arabic speaking accounts replying to her account. The account is now suspended #Olympics2021

19) Meet Brazilian Democratic Movement politician @MauroMariani15. His account has been hacked by someone claiming to be an ethical hacker (irony what?) and digital criminal investigator. The account is still active & verified, offering to restore hacked accounts! #CyberSecurity

20) Here is US baseball player Blake Battenfield. His account @blake_bfield2 has been hacked by someone purporting to be based in Saudi, who sells pimped out phones and other things.. It is still hacked and still verified #BaseBall #cybersecurity

21) Another 'Saudi princess' here; Lulwa Al-Faisal Al Saud. They hacked the account (@Belegendary19) of American Footballer Derrick Jones, previously of New York Jets, & others. Account still verified, & has been hacked for over a year. RTs dodgy Saudi news portal @SaudiNews50

22) Journalists beware. The account of Australian Journalist Ticky Fullerton @bizticky has been hacked by dodgy phone salesperson in Saudi (looks like the same account that hacked @blake_bfield2 - see tweet no. 20). Account is still verified & hacked. #CyberSecurity @RSF_inter

23) Journalists beware. The account of 13WMAZ Morning Anchor @KatelynHeck was hacked. Katelyn got her account back as you can see, although some of her Arabic tweets are still evident. #CyberSecurity #Hacking

24) For the Australian rules football fans. Meet former @brisbanelions player @zac_oby , Zac o Brien. Zac had his account hacked by an entity purporting to be Kuwaiti news portal that. It is still verified, and tweets on a regular basis. #CyberSecurity #deception #hacking

25) Meet Olayinka Sanni, Nigerian American pro basketball player. Her account @olayinkasanni was hacked in 2020 by someone claiming to be 'Faisal bin Khalid Al Saud' and is now suspended. Olayinka @olayinkasanni10 noted the hack but nothing happened. #cybersecurity

26) Any Indian #cricket fans?Sarabjit Ladda @10Ladda had his verified account hacked as far back as 2019 & taken over by someone purporting to be one Ibrahim Hamdan living in Jordan. He even hacked/bought the corresponding Instagram account @10Ladda (Just Batsman #CyberSecurity

27) Fans of Ultra-Conservative blogging may know Bob Livingston. His verified account @personalliberty was taken over around 2020 by Arabic news account "news 35". The account is up but no longer verified. It tweeted a lot of pro-UAE/anti Qatar/Turkey propaganda #disinformation

28) Academics beware. @susan_weich , Assistant Professor of Journalism at @LindenwoodU and former crime reporter has had her verified account taken over around 2020 by 'Susan AlKhaldi', who is allegedly based in Saudi and does financial reporting #CyberSecurity #AcademicTwitter

29) One of the victims of hacking, belonging to rugby player @netherton_jason ( original hacked account = @jasnev16 ) got in touch to say that @TwitterSupport never got back to him. That's not cool at all. The hacked account is still live and erm, hacked. #CyberSecurity

30) Any @BGT fans out there. Do you remember father son band @TheNeales ? They even got top 25 in the UK charts. Now the account is someone claiming to be Saudi Princess Naifa bin Talal Khalid Al Saud. Looks like a sick relative scam. Account is very much active and verified #BGT

31) Just a note that I have it on good authority that some people are approached about selling their verified accounts. It is not clear in which instances this is the case. #cybersecurity #disinformation

32) Baseball fans may recognize former @cardinals player Barret Browning (I'm not a bball fan). His account @backwoodsbb was hacked back in 2019. It's still up, but not verified anymore. Now belongs to 'Dasman' who reports to be based in Kuwait. #Cybersecurity #disinformation

33) Bennie Fowler, a wide receiver for the @49ers had his account hacked back in 2020 by someone who change the account to 'Ibn Watan' (arabic). The account disappeared and the handle has now been taken by a new ghost account set up in June 2021 #Cybersecurity #49ers

34 a) Pittsburgh @Pirates pitcher Tyler Anderson had his account @andersontj08 hacked in 2018 by an account that renamed itself 'Ahmed for marketing services', reportedly based in Saudi. The account offered social media services. If you search #Cybersecurity

34 b) for the number in the screenshot, it takes you to a youtube channel offering to sell Twitter followers and automatic retweets (at a good price!). The number is a Saudi number. FYI Tyler's account no longer exists. RIP. #cybersecurity #disinformation

34 c) if you search the number on Twitter you'll find a few accounts (including previously hacked verified account @reghud) offering various services. One account leads to website of Saudi-based Marketing company, which offers fake followers, RTs, trending services, verification

I will resume this thread tomorrow! Peace out #cybersecurity