Hackers claiming allegiance to the Islamic State took management of the social media accounts of the U.S. army’s Central Command on Monday, posting threatening messages and propaganda movies, together with some army paperwork.
The command’s Twitter and YouTube accounts have been finally taken offline, however not earlier than a string of tweets and the discharge of army paperwork, a few of which listed contact info for senior army personnel. A Centcom spokesman confirmed their accounts have been “compromised,” and stated later that the accounts have been taken offline whereas the incident is investigated extra.
“CENTCOM’s operation military networks were not compromised and there was no operational impact to U.S. Central Command,” a army assertion stated. “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 officers added within the assertion that their preliminary evaluation is that no labeled info was posted, and that none of what was launched got here from Centcom’s server or social media websites. The command will notify Defense Department and legislation enforcement authorities concerning the launch of personally identifiable info and ensure that these affected are notified as shortly as potential, Centcom stated.
Virtually all the paperwork posted seem to have already got been publicly obtainable on-line, however the incident is nonetheless embarrassing to the U.S. army. Centcom oversees the U.S. army marketing campaign in opposition to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and continuously posts movies of airstrikes on the identical accounts attacked Monday.
The United States and the Islamic State have waged a propaganda battle on-line for the higher a part of a 12 months, after the militants rose to prominence and seized broad swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria. Twitter accounts sympathetic to the militants have distributed graphic pictures of beheadings and different violence together with threats, whereas the Defense Department and State Department have sought to show the Islamic State as an oppressive group prepared to slaughter harmless males, ladies and youngsters.
The first rogue tweet Monday was posted about 12:30 p.m. and the account was not suspended for about one other 40 minutes. The background and profile photograph of the Twitter account have been each modified to indicate an obvious militant and the phrases “CyberCaliphate” and “i love you isis,” utilizing one of many acronyms for the militant group.
“AMERICAN SOLDIERS, WE ARE COMING, WATCH YOUR BACK,” one tweet stated.