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.

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D Jones@blanket

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Daniel Dennis Jones @originalblanket
Background: I joined up with twitter shortly after it started.
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:33:54
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http://twitter.com/originalblanket/status/252174391419469825
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:33:54
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
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http://twitter.com/originalblanket/status/252174422880948224
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:34:02
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
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http://twitter.com/originalblanket/status/252174442455773184
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:34:06
Of course, I'm not verified either.
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
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http://twitter.com/originalblanket/status/252174481232109568
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:34:16
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
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http://twitter.com/originalblanket/status/252174523259031552
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:34:26
Saturday, September 29, that is.
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
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http://twitter.com/originalblanket/status/252174586123268096
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:34:41
Daniel Dennis Jones @originalblanket
Wait, finally I can login using my email.
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:34:56
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http://twitter.com/originalblanket/status/252174652019986433
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:34:56
Daniel Dennis Jones @originalblanket
But then, woah, I find out my username has been replaced.
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:35:02
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http://twitter.com/originalblanket/status/252174674186862592
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:35:02
Daniel Dennis Jones @originalblanket
My username has been replace by (cover your eyes): @FuckMyAssHoleLO
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:35:07
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http://twitter.com/originalblanket/status/252174695275843584
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:35:07
Daniel Dennis Jones @originalblanket
BUT
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:35:11
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http://twitter.com/originalblanket/status/252174712715759617
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:35:11
Daniel Dennis Jones @originalblanket
Profile info is all the same, tweets, followers, followees, etc. still there.
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:35:23
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http://twitter.com/originalblanket/status/252174765471707136
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:35:23
Daniel Dennis Jones @originalblanket
Whew!
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:35:29
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http://twitter.com/originalblanket/status/252174790142607360
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:35:29
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
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http://twitter.com/originalblanket/status/252174809700630528
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:35:34
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
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http://twitter.com/originalblanket/status/252174831540400128
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:35:39
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
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http://twitter.com/originalblanket/status/252174913044107264
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:35:59
Daniel Dennis Jones @originalblanket
(Twitter's support section feels kinda weak-by-design.)
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:36:09
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http://twitter.com/originalblanket/status/252174956069269504
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:36:09
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
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http://twitter.com/originalblanket/status/252174976508129281
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:36:14
Daniel Dennis Jones @originalblanket
Finding youtube accts, skype names, and twitter handles.
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:36:18
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http://twitter.com/originalblanket/status/252174994178719745
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:36:18
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
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http://twitter.com/originalblanket/status/252175041997987840
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:36:29
Daniel Dennis Jones @originalblanket
All cracked/stolen.
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:36:35
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http://twitter.com/originalblanket/status/252175063992913921
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:36:35
Daniel Dennis Jones @originalblanket
Now here's where it gets interesting.
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:36:40
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http://twitter.com/originalblanket/status/252175087309049856
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:36:40
By chasing tweets I find @Blanket & others are being pimped at a site called forumkorner pic.twitter.com/kWRING5Nom/kWRING5N
Daniel Dennis Jones @originalblanket
·
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:37:04
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http://twitter.com/originalblanket/status/252175187796176897
Sat, Sep 29 2012 15:37:04
A guy named Korea is selling my and other accounts on Forumkorner — which an admin admonishes him/her for.

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