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Mon, Oct 01 2012 13:59:55
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Social Media

How my awesome twitter username was stolen by a gang of teenagers for money and sex

Someone cracked my Twitter account and stole my username earlier today. What they did with it led me down a rabbit hole of security vulnerabilities, username black markets, and teen crushes.

  1. originalblanket
    Daniel Dennis Jones@originalblanket
    Background: I joined up with twitter shortly after it started.
    Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:33:54
  2. originalblanket
    Daniel Dennis Jones@originalblanket
    b/c i was an early adopter i got to pick a fancy name: blanket
    Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:34:02
  3. originalblanket
    Daniel Dennis Jones@originalblanket
    I'm not a power user or anything. I mostly post random thoughts & stuff for my work.
    Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:34:06
  4. Of course, I'm not verified either.
  5. originalblanket
    Daniel Dennis Jones@originalblanket
    (I do get confused a lot for Michael Jackson's son, and people accidentally mention in me in tweets about crawling into bed)
    Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:34:16
  6. originalblanket
    Daniel Dennis Jones@originalblanket
    This morning at 9:30 ET I got an email telling me my password had been changed.
    Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:34:26
  7. Saturday, September 29, that is.
  8. originalblanket
    Daniel Dennis Jones@originalblanket
    Tried to login and failed. Was still logged in on my phone though, and was panicked to see my tweet/follow counts at 0.
    Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:34:41
  9. originalblanket
    Daniel Dennis Jones@originalblanket
    Wait, finally I can login using my email.
    Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:34:56
  10. originalblanket
    Daniel Dennis Jones@originalblanket
    But then, woah, I find out my username has been replaced.
    Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:35:02
  11. originalblanket
    Daniel Dennis Jones@originalblanket
    My username has been replace by (cover your eyes): @FuckMyAssHoleLO
    Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:35:07
  12. originalblanket
    Daniel Dennis Jones@originalblanket
    BUT
    Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:35:11
  13. originalblanket
    Daniel Dennis Jones@originalblanket
    Profile info is all the same, tweets, followers, followees, etc. still there.
    Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:35:23
  14. originalblanket
    Daniel Dennis Jones@originalblanket
    Whew!
    Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:35:29
  15. originalblanket
    Daniel Dennis Jones@originalblanket
    So I go immediately to acct settings, deactivate apps, change email address, pwd, etc.
    Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:35:34
  16. originalblanket
    Daniel Dennis Jones@originalblanket
    Tweet at everyone i know at twitter (with help from friends!) to get help
    Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:35:39
  17. originalblanket
    Daniel Dennis Jones@originalblanket
    No evidence on twitter's help page that people have ever had usernames stolen.
    Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:35:59
  18. originalblanket
    Daniel Dennis Jones@originalblanket
    (Twitter's support section feels kinda weak-by-design.)
    Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:36:09
  19. originalblanket
    Daniel Dennis Jones@originalblanket
    Meanwhile I'm digging up info through a bunch of other usernames that have been stolen/hacked.
    Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:36:14
  20. originalblanket
    Daniel Dennis Jones@originalblanket
    Finding youtube accts, skype names, and twitter handles.
    Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:36:18
  21. originalblanket
    Daniel Dennis Jones@originalblanket
    Twitternames that would have high value due to brevity: @hah, @captain, @craves, @abound, @grinding
    Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:36:29
  22. originalblanket
    Daniel Dennis Jones@originalblanket
    All cracked/stolen.
    Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:36:35
  23. originalblanket
    Daniel Dennis Jones@originalblanket
    Now here's where it gets interesting.
    Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:36:40
  24. By chasing tweets I find @blanket & others are being pimped at a site called forumkorner http://pic.twitter.com/kWRING5N
    Daniel Dennis Jones@originalblanket
    ·
    Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:37:04
  25. A guy named Korea is selling my and other accounts on Forumkorner — which an admin admonishes him/her for.

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