HORSE HEAD HUFFER

The Not-So-Secret Black Market Of Twitter Handles Naoki Hiroshima survived an Internet security nightmare earlier this week, though not without first acquiescing to the demands of the person who hacked him. Someone claimed to obtain the personal information and passwords of Hiroshima's GoDaddy and PayPal accounts, changed them, and held the accounts as hostage. All he asked for was one thing: access to Hiroshima’s Twitter account. Hiroshima’s account is one of the very few precious accounts that are only one letter—@N. Many Twitter users want to get their hands on limited usernames, like those containing one letter or the ones belonging to the elusive first name Twitter club. But this hacker went so far as to compromise other accounts linked to Hiroshima's business and financial information. The hacker described his tactics in an email to Hiroshima. PayPal claims Hiroshima’s account was not compromised, and the company never provided the alleged hacker with any personal details.