PlanPhilly transportation reporter Jim Saksa was killin’ it. He was owning #SEPTAstrike as few other reporters could, dropping wonk-level insights with grace and speed and wit from the best Twitter name in the game: @Saksappeal.
But then — poof — it was gone.
On Tuesday night, within minutes of getting verified (a coveted badge for modern-day reporters), @Saksappeal was hacked.
The realization that his account had been compromised was like a shot of espresso for the weary reporter, who got home at 1:15 a.m. that night after a whole lot of reporting. He took to Facebook to announce the breach:
“Within minutes of getting verified on Twitter, my account got hacked and deleted and now I’m staying up changing all my passwords,” Saksa wrote.
Jim Saksa (of temporarily-hacked @Saksappeal infamy) here-I'll be tweeting #SEPTAStrike news here today, an account you should follow anyway
— PlanPhilly (@PlanPhilly) November 2, 2016
A week before, the reporter (and former Technical.ly contributor) had filled out an application to get that prestigious blue checkmark on his profile. The social media company offers the stamp of approval to “accounts of public interest,” provided users supply a phone number and links to relevant information.
“The second part of that email you get when you’re verified said, ‘Verified accounts are more likely to get hacked,'” a still-weary Saksa told Technical.ly over the phone Thursday afternoon. “I postponed changing my password to the next morning.”
Big mistake, Jim. Alas, the next email from Twitter said someone had accessed his account from Toronto, Canada.
“I tried to reset my password but I just want’t fast enough,” he lamented.
@TonyAbraham have we determined whether or not it was a coordinated attack by the Russians? #saksahack
— Christopher Wink (@christopherwink) November 3, 2016
And so, the now-verified account he held so dear was taken over by some dude named @FamousSteveaf, whose bio simply reads “I go to school just to eat lunch.” Saksa’s 5,000 tweets were deleted the day after, but the hacker kept the 1,769 followers.
Let’s have a moment of silence to honor all those lost characters.
It could have been worse, said Saksa, who managed to salvage his Gmail account from a hacker trying to take it over from Moldova.
“It was coincidence that it happened seconds after I got it verified,” he said. “I forget what my old Twitter password was but it could have been a very simple one with no symbols or anything like that. Lesson learned.”
Saksa also waved off any thought of angry SEPTA union members teaming up with hackers to take down his digital megaphone. I mean, this is likely one of the biggest moments of his reporting career.
“I’ve been told by folks from SEPTA and the union that they appreciate my reporting,” the reporter said. “All of this is a bunch of coincidence.” Sure, Jim. Sure.
In the meantime, there’s an email out to the folks at Twitter to see if something can be done. Hopefully, we’ll soon report the glorious return of @Saksappeal. For updates from Jim on the ongoing strike, you can find him over at @PlanPhilly. His are the tweets with “JS” on there.
PSA: Our Jim Saksa is on #SEPTAstrike duty again today – expect tweets from him here (not his hacked twitter account @saksappeal) signed JS
— PlanPhilly (@PlanPhilly) November 3, 2016
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