Hacker mocks Algorand after maintaining control of CEO’s X account for 15 hours

An unknown party is still posting on the X account of Algorand Foundation CEO Staci Warden after almost a day, mocking followers and the platform alike.

As of 6:28 pm UTC on Jan. 26, the unnamed hacker has continued to be active on social media platform X, roughly 15 hours after Algorand posted that it was “in the process” of recovering Warden’s account. The individual has used their time on the platform to post messages containing racial slurs and insults about Warden, both while posting and replying to X users.

Many of the hacker’s activities using the compromised account attacked Warden personally — by changing her profile to claim she “drained 6 figures from my customers and gaslit them into thinking it was a hack” and worked as a “semi professional pole dancer.” However, many X users seemed to be amused by the disruption, claiming to prefer the hacker’s posts over Warden’s:

Unpopular opinion: Staci hacker would make a better CEO for Algorand Foundation

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) January 26, 2024

It’s unclear whether X’s help center was responding to the hack. In a Jan. 26 statement posted at 8:10 pm UTC, Algorand chief technology officer John Woods said the firm was still working to regain control of Warden’s account, but “no Algorand systems or accounts have been compromised.”

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Individuals have previously been able to temporarily take over high-profile X accounts, such as that of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on Jan. 9. In that case, the hacker was able to release a fake message claiming that the SEC had approved spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds. In a Jan. 22 report, the SEC said the hack resulted from a SIM swap attack.

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Update (Jan. 26 at 8:19 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a statement from Algorand.