Obama Twitter Account Hacked by Frenchman

A French hacker has been arrested in connection to the hacking of a Twitter account owned by U.S. President Barack Obama. The suspect, known by the nickname "Hacker Croll," has since been arrested in his home country.

"Hacker Croll" is actually a 25 year old male and is already infamous for his targeting of high-profile social networking accounts. He was allegedly responsible for a similar attack on Britney Spears a year ago after gaining access to Twitter's internal administrative network by acquiring the password of an employee. In order to get his dirty little hands on the latter, Croll first hacked the Twitter administrator's Yahoo Mail! account.

It's believed Croll used a similar tactic to breach Barack Obama's Twitter account.

Hacker's Methods Still Unclear

The media has not yet agreed on a single method for Croll's attacks. A separate report from BBC News suggested the French hacker simply repeatedly guessed at his victims' account passwords until he got them correct. It's likely Croll used something more sophisticated than that, but most certainly some luck must have played a part in the multiple breaches. (Source: bbc.co.uk)

Still, any luck Hacker Croll may have had seems to have run out. The suspect, who reportedly has no job and lives with his parents, was recently apprehended by French authorities, who for some time had been working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on the case. Croll has since been released with a court date set for June 24, 2010.

Authorities Investigate Similar Incidents

Croll could face a very serious penalty for his transgressions depending on how many charges the authorities can pin on him. French police suspect he may have been behind a Twitter security breach that gave him access hundreds of company documents. The suspected hacker (for unknown reasons) then turned those documents over to blog TechCrunch. (Source: cnet.com)

Interestingly, Croll has never yet tried to profit from his attacks -- which might explain his current living situation.