The 25-year-old man – known as 'Hacker Croll' – was arrested by the French police, with the FBI assisting in the operation. Croll is perhaps best known – although he has operated anonymously until now – as hacking the account of President Barack Obama in one of his attacks on the Twitter online social network.
According to the AFP newswire, the unemployed hacker was arrested in the Puy-de-Dome region of central France after a joint operation lasting several months between French police and agents from the FBI.
The FBI says that the hacker had also attacked Facebook and email accounts operated by Google, although French newswire reports suggest that he did not profit financially from his hacking activities.
French police, meanwhile, say that Croll managed to gain access to Twitter's admin IDs and passwords, allowing him to create, modify or delete accounts at will.
His downfall, however, appears to be when he set up a blog to 'share' his discoveries with the internet and the Twittersphere.
Interestingly, French newswires report that the man was known to the authorities for a series of minor frauds that had previously generated around €15 000.
The FBI says its alerted the French authorities to his presence on French territory in July, 2009.