social media account takeover

N33 takes over writer Leonardo Padron’s Twitter account

In 2011, the N33 group was reported to have hijacked Twitter accounts belonging to figures critical of Chavismo. CPJ, Americas Quarterly, and AP/CBS named Leonardo Padron among the victims. The exact date the account was taken over was not publicly established, and the date of the N33 statement is used as a reference.

Overview

Missing evidence

Exact date of this specific victim's abductionforensic attributionOperator's identity confirmed by the court

Impact details

Leonardo Padrón was identified by CPJ/AP as a victim of the hijacking of the N33 account, which involved unauthorized posts and the blocking of his Twitter account. Specific technical details regarding the victim are limited. No specific public source from the victim confirms that private material from this particular account was copied or published.

account profilePotentially accessible private direct messagesTwitter accountemail account or recovery channel

Classification & severity

Category
Intrusions
Subtype
social media account takeover
Confidence
High

The CPJ directly identifies the victim and documents the broader campaign of N33 account impersonation targeting Venezuelan journalists and opposition figures.

Severity assessment

Medium
Functional impact
Degraded (non-critical)
Information impact
Suspected
Affected scope
Single user
Critical service
None
Public confidence
Limited
Recoverability
Regular

A victim has been identified in the N33 account takeover campaign; the risk of loss of account control and exposure of private messages has been confirmed, but specific technical details regarding the victim are limited.

Service disrupted ConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability

Timeline

No structured timeline events are available for this incident.

Evidence & sources

1 source