Breach, Data Security, Network Security, Threat Management

Hacker appoints himself new Oculus CEO on hijacked Twitter account

No, Oculus has not really appointed a new CEO. In truth, a hacker yesterday accessed the Twitter account of the virtual reality company's CEO Brendan Iribe, and posted several fake tweets, including one that announced a leadership change.

The incident follows several high-profile Twitter attacks on CEOs perpetrated by the hacker group OurMine, but this one was the work of someone who goes by the nickname “qui” and owns the Twitter handle @Lid.

Iribe's Twitter page was later restored, but a TechCrunch report captured screenshots of the hack. “We here @oculus are very excited to announce our new CEO. @Lid ! :)” read one fraudulent tweet. Another read: “imagine creating the coolest [sh**] to ever be introduced to gaming technology but using the same pass for 4 years lol…”

In a direct message-based interview with TechCrunch, the hacker said that he lifted Iribe's Twitter password from last month's breach of MySpace.

Bradley Barth

As director of multimedia content strategy at CyberRisk Alliance, Bradley Barth develops content for online conferences, webcasts, podcasts video/multimedia projects — often serving as moderator or host. For nearly six years, he wrote and reported for SC Media as deputy editor and, before that, senior reporter. He was previously a program executive with the tech-focused PR firm Voxus. Past journalistic experience includes stints as business editor at Executive Technology, a staff writer at New York Sportscene and a freelance journalist covering travel and entertainment. In his spare time, Bradley also writes screenplays.

Get daily email updates

SC Media's daily must-read of the most current and pressing daily news

By clicking the Subscribe button below, you agree to SC Media Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.