US Centcom account ‘hacked by Islamic State’
US Central Command’s Twitter account appears to have been hacked by a group claiming to back Islamic State.
One message said: “American soldiers, we are coming, watch your back.”
It was signed by Isis, another name for the Islamic State. Some internal military documents also appeared on the Centcom Twitter feed.
US Centcom Twitter account ‘hacked by Islamic State’
US Centcom told the BBC it was preparing a statement. The Twitter account was later taken down so no tweets could be viewed.
The hack happened as President Barack Obama was preparing a speech on cybersecurity.
Subsequent posts on the Centcom Twitter account said: “Pentagon Networks Hacked! China Scenarios” and “Pentagon Networks Hacked. Korean Scenarios.”
Some of the documents posted appeared to list names and phone numbers of members of the military as well as PowerPoint slides and maps.
The Centcom YouTube account was also hacked.
American and coalition war planes have been undertaking air strikes against IS in Iraq and Syria.
The U.S. Central Command’s Twitter account appeared to be compromised Monday afternoon.
Someone using the @CENTCOM handle first tweeted the message “ISIS is already here, we are in your PCs, in each military base.” A photo of two soldiers in fatigues and a K-9 was included in the message.
Other tweets included images of what appeared to be military documents.
CNBC reports the hackers also changed the profile and cover photos on the account to show the name “CyberCaliphate” and the phrase “i love you isis.” They say a YouTube page for the U.S. Central Command was also compromised.
The Twitter account was suspended approximately 30 minutes after the cyberattack started.
UPDATE: CNN reports that the Twitter account was hacked by ISIS supporters:
We can confirm that the U.S. Central Command Twitter account was compromised earlier today. CENTCOM is taking appropriate measure to address the matter, a defense official told CNN.
The account has since been suspended.
The Twitter account for the U.S. Central Command appears to have been hacked by someone claiming to be a member of ISIS.
BuzzFeed News adds that their YouTube account has been hacked, as well. We will update this situation as it develops.
