A UK court orders British hacker Joseph James O’Connor to repay about 4.1 million pounds ($5.4 million) in Bitcoin and other crypto assets tied to the Twitter high-profile account hijack case.

Victims included Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Kim Kardashian, with Twitter temporarily restricting activity on verified accounts during the 2020 breaches.

The case also involved stalking charges, with the alleged mastermind Graham Ivan Clark receiving a three-year juvenile sentence in 2021.

Experts urge stronger social-media security through employee training, stricter access controls, MFA, real-time monitoring, and regulatory reforms to curb social engineering.”

The incident exposed insider-threat vulnerabilities and the need for better internal controls and platform security to protect high-profile accounts.

The hacking spree accelerated investment in cybersecurity, tightened crypto regulation, and increased use of AI/ML to defend against insider and external threats.

The ruling marks a shift toward treating cybercrime gains as recoverable assets and highlights ongoing efforts to improve security for social platforms and global enforcement.

The scheme relied on social engineering to infiltrate a small number of Twitter employees, granting access to internal tools and enabling posts from verified accounts to solicit Bitcoin from followers.

Regulators and lawmakers are updating frameworks to confiscate illicit gains from cybercrime and to foster cross-border cooperation in asset recovery.

Authorities emphasize that successful criminals can still face costly consequences through law enforcement tools and civil remedies, including asset recovery.

CPS officials say the Proceeds of Crime division aims to strip criminals of proceeds even if they are not convicted domestically, underscoring UK action against overseas offenses.

The CPS stresses the Civil Recovery Order demonstrates use of proceeds-of-crime powers in cybercrime cases, with assets to be clawed back regardless of UK conviction status.