U.S. military social media accounts apparently hacked by Islamic State sympathizers

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/01/12/centcom-twitter-account-apparently-hacked-by-islamic-state-sympathizers/

By Dan Lamothe
The Washington Post
January 12, 2015

Hackers claiming allegiance to the Islamic State took control of the 
social media accounts of the U.S. military’s Central Command on Monday, 
posting threatening messages and propaganda videos, along with some 
military documents.

The command’s Twitter and YouTube accounts were eventually taken offline, 
but not before a string of tweets and the release of military documents, 
some of which listed contact information for senior military personnel. A 
Centcom spokesman confirmed their accounts were “compromised,” and said 
later that the accounts have been taken offline while the incident is 
investigated more.

“CENTCOM’s operation military networks were not compromised and there was 
no operational impact to U.S. Central Command,” a military statement said. 
“CENTCOM will restore service to its Twitter and YouTube accounts as 
quickly as possible. We are viewing this purely as a case of 
cybervandalism.”

Military officials added in the statement that their initial assessment is 
that no classified information was posted, and that none of what was 
released came from Centcom’s server or social media sites. The command 
will notify Defense Department and law enforcement authorities about the 
release of personally identifiable information and make sure that those 
affected are notified as quickly as possible, Centcom said.

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