Tuesday morning Newsweek's Twitter account was hacked by a group that identified itself as Cyber Caliphate. The group changed the publication's banner and photo to a pro-ISIS image, and in a 16-minute span of random tweets, CC shot out documents that detailed "Pentagon warfare in social networks," and released phone and social security numbers for Department of Defense employees. With most of the photo tweets the group also posted pro-ISIS statements.
Cyper Caliphate also warned of a Bloody Valentine's Day for the White House:
1.
The pro-ISIS cyber group, popped up recently in the news for hacking Malaysian Airlines; Cyper Caliphate not only disabled the airline's ticket-booking service, but also changed the banner to "ISIS WILL PREVAIL."
Brian Ries, a news editor for Mashable, tweeted that in 2013, when he was a social media manager at Newsweek, the FBI warned them of a Syrian group that was trying to hack their publication.
I used to manage the @Newsweek Twitter account. We were warned in May 2013 by the FBI that Syrian-based hackers wanted to hack it.
— Brian Ries (@moneyries) February 10, 2015
Two dark-suited FBI agents came by the IAC offices (which used to own @Newsweek) & asked us about our security protocols.
— Brian Ries (@moneyries) February 10, 2015
Two dark-suited FBI agents came by the IAC offices (which used to own @Newsweek) & asked us about our security protocols.
— Brian Ries (@moneyries) February 10, 20152.
The question remains: why Newsweek? Couldn't Cyber Caliphate find a publication with higher reader engagement? Oh, that's right, they already hacked Taylor Swift. And it's all downhill from there.
UPDATE: Official Statement from Newsweek
"At 10:45 a.m., the Newsweek Twitter account, @Newsweek, was hacked by a group calling themselves the "Cyber Caliphate." The group claimed to be affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS) and has previously hacked @Centcom, the Twitter account of the United States Central Command, as well as the official Twitter account of Taylor Swift. The Newsweek account remained hacked for 14 minutes until 10:59 a.m., when Twitter's support team regained control of the account at the publication's request."
"We can confirm that Newsweek's Twitter account was hacked this morning, and have since regained control of the account," Newsweek managing editor Kira Bindrim said in a statement. "We apologize to our readers for anything offensive that might have been sent from our account during that period, and are working to strengthen our newsroom security measures going forward."
[via Newsweek]
