【France】Unemployed Frenchman guesses Celebrities' and Obama's twitter passwords - Polidicks

[release][img]http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47532000/jpg/_47532832_008910815-1.jpg[/img] Obama Twitter account 'hacked by Frenchman' It is not clear if the hacker posted anything on Mr Obama's Twitter page A Frenchman who police say hacked Twitter accounts belonging to US President Barack Obama and celebrities could face jail. The unemployed 25-year-old was arrested on Tuesday after an operation lasting several months, conducted by French police with agents from the FBI. The 25-year-old is said to have hacked into the micro-blogging website, by simply guessing users' passwords. The suspect reportedly targeted other celebrities, including Britney Spears. After being questioned by police, he was ordered to appear at court in the central French city of Clermont-Ferrand on 24 June. Hacking into a database in France is a crime which can carry a two-year jail term. The suspect, who used the pseudonym "Hacker Croll", had no specialist training, Adeline Champagnat, head of the French central office against online fraud, told Reuters news agency. He gained access to Twitter accounts by simply working out the answers to password reminder questions on targets' e-mail accounts, according to investigators.[/release] Source: [url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8586269.stm[/url] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K95SXe3pZoY[/media]

This is just sad. So easy to guess Obama's password, I wonder what else he has with the same password... Can't think of a pun either.

so apparently guessing is a crime now, also jesus fuck its only twitter. Who honestly cares about twitter? its not like any important secret information is being compromised.

Guessing =\= hacking. I hate it when people misuse "hack" or any variation of it.

My theories were right... Only one person is smart out there.

[QUOTE=Sparkwire;20950299]so apparently guessing is a crime now.[/QUOTE] I guess it is.

I bet this was his hobby, trying to get into "insert famous person's name here"s twitter accounts.

[QUOTE=Sparkwire;20950299]so apparently guessing is a crime now.[/QUOTE] If he had guessed the number of jellybeans in a jar it would be different. He gained access to the tools required to transmit information to a massive population that many would accept as legitimate. In this case, information they would believe comes from The President of The United States. The method he achieved this was not the issue, it was the ends of the means.

This guy has far too much time on his hands.

[QUOTE=Regulas021;20950349]If he had guessed the number of jellybeans in a jar it would be different. He gained access to the tools required to transmit information to a massive population that many would accept as legitimate. In this case, information they would believe comes from The President of The United States. The method he achieved this was not the issue, it was the ends of the means.[/QUOTE] Yeah but what are the odds of Obama declaring war via Twitter?

[QUOTE=rapperkid04;20950559]Yeah but what are the odds of Obama declaring war via Twitter?[/QUOTE] Declaring war? Not so much. Saying something like "Evacuate blah blah city for whatever reason" (phrased a BIT more convincingly) could cause some serious problems. If someone found their way into the command center for the Emergency Broadcast system, he wouldn't be arrested for 'walking around'.

Oh god the things I would do with Obama's twitter.

[QUOTE=Sparkwire;20950299]so apparently guessing is a crime now, also jesus fuck its only twitter. Who honestly cares about twitter? its not like any important secret information is being compromised.[/QUOTE] First of all, he targeted people, so he knew he'd be able to do it, second of all, he could've posted some bad things on their Twitter's, possibly ruining their rep.

[QUOTE=Gummylamb;20950685]First of all, he targeted people, so he knew he'd be able to do it, second of all, he could've posted some bad things on their Twitter's, possibly ruining their rep.[/QUOTE] Then don't make such a easy password or don't have a fucking twitter account. Even if anything bad was done the posts can be deleted and someone can issue a "Sorry, our account was hi-jacked" notice to everyone so they know it wasn't real.

he should be rewarded for exposing problems that's what big companies do

[QUOTE=Spartan8907;20950315]Guessing =\= hacking. I hate it when people misuse "hack" or any variation of it.[/QUOTE] He still tried to gain access to his account. That's all it comes down to.

I'm guessing they're all idiots.

Sounds like a [I]sticky[/I] situation. :|

I wonder how it went down for him? "[i]Hmmm...what could Obama's password be? Let's start off simple.... [b]password[/b]...*[b]ding[/b]*...oh dear.[/i]"

[QUOTE=squeaky024;20950294]This is just sad. So easy to guess Obama's password, I wonder what else he has with the same password... Can't think of a pun either.[/QUOTE] It was probably 'password'.

[QUOTE=Elstumpo;20950382]This guy has far too much time on his hands.[/QUOTE] I wonder why. Hmmm. Maybe beacuse he is [b]unemployed[/b]?? Hmm.

[QUOTE=FreakyMe;20951462]It was probably 'password'.[/QUOTE] no, it probably was change

he found out the "secret question" example: "where where you born?", "What is your favorite food?" finding this kind of stuff is sometimes very easy when the person is famous. here: [quote]He gained access to Twitter accounts by simply working out the answers to password reminder questions on targets' e-mail accounts, according to investigators.[/quote]

I bet it was qwerty [editline]03:05PM[/editline] Either that or papalamapimalos

Clermont-Ferrand is a shithole.

So wait, they don't even know if he posted anything on it? So how did they know that he did it? He's a fucking moron if he went and told people about it. I'm also getting really sick of people slapping "hack" onto any form of digial account theft. It's either phishing (you were fooled into giving your information away) or guessing (your information was easy to guess or brute-forced with dumb luck), and either one is always the user's own fault. Use complicated passwords that you have never typed or written anywhere else, don't spread the information used in your secret questions around the net, and for God's sake, NEVER log in from a link somebody else sent you.

Obama's password: Obama

This law is stupid, it only seems to apply to celebrities and politicians (at least for jail time), if a regular person gets their email or facebook hacked nothing happens apart from you getting ridiculed by your friends for being facebook raped.

The password was probably 'swordfish'

"Hacker" is not an appropriate term. Simply GUESSING is NOT hacking. "Phisher" or just "Really fucking lucky" is more like it.