# Syrian Hacker Behind AP Twitter Hoax That Shook Markets Gets 42‑Month U.S. Sentence

*Friday, October 30, 2026 at 12:05 PM UTC — Hamer Intelligence Services Desk*

**Published**: 2026-10-30T12:05:43.958Z (2h ago)
**Category**: cyber | **Region**: Global
**Importance**: 7/10
**Sources**: OSINT
**Permalink**: https://hamerintel.com/data/articles/21992.md
**Source**: https://hamerintel.com/summaries

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**Deck**: A member of the Syrian Electronic Army has been sentenced to 42 months in a U.S. prison for hijacking the Associated Press’s Twitter account in 2013, posting a fake White House explosion alert that briefly erased about $136 billion in stock market value and hacking dozens of other targets.

A Syrian hacker whose fake news alert briefly sent financial markets plunging in 2013 has been sentenced to three and a half years in a U.S. prison.

The man, identified as a member of the pro‑government Syrian Electronic Army, received a 42‑month sentence after admitting his role in hijacking the Associated Press’s Twitter account and using it to post a false claim about explosions at the White House and injuries to then‑President Barack Obama. The tweet appeared on 23 April 2013 and triggered a sharp but short‑lived sell‑off that erased an estimated $136 billion in stock market value before prices recovered.

U.S. authorities say his activities extended well beyond the AP incident. The Syrian Electronic Army compromised about 47 organizations, including major media outlets and government entities, mixing political messaging favorable to the Assad government with intrusions that probed how much damage could be done by seizing trusted online accounts.

The sentencing comes years after the trades in question were unwound, at a time when markets rely even more heavily on automated systems that parse news feeds in real time. In 2013, one bogus tweet from a verified account was enough to prompt both algorithms and some human traders to dump shares before the hoax was caught.

For investors and exchanges, the case underlines that information security can move prices. A single short message from what appears to be a reputable newsroom can still set off orders, shift indexes and test confidence in how markets digest news. The fact that the market bounced back quickly after the AP hoax does not guarantee that future attacks, possibly timed during real‑world crises or aimed at several accounts at once, would be contained as easily.

For media organizations and public agencies, the Syrian Electronic Army’s record is a reminder that prominence on social platforms comes with exposure. Hacking a newsroom’s account lets an attacker inject false information directly into news streams and see how fast editors and platforms can react.

The case sits where cyber operations, information warfare and financial stability overlap. The hacker did not break into trading systems or critical infrastructure. He took advantage of weak account security and trust in verified profiles yet still managed to send a shock through Wall Street.

The practical questions now facing policymakers and market operators involve how to factor the risk of compromised news sources into safeguards, how to test trading systems against disinformation scenarios, and how actively to pursue similar hackers, including those based in countries with no extradition agreements.