Twitter account for US Central Command Hacked, Filled with pro-ISIS Messages

Fox News:

The Twitter account for U.S. Central Command was hacked on Monday and for several minutes carried incendiary messages promoting the Islamic State — including one that said, “AMERICAN SOLDIERS, WE ARE COMING, WATCH YOUR BACK. ISIS.” 

Another page showed what appeared to be an image from a computer web cam in a military facility. An accompanying tweet said, “ISIS is already here, we are in your PCs, in each military base.” 

Shortly after the page was taken over, Twitter suspended the account. Central Command’s YouTube page also was compromised. A message on the YouTube channel page says the account “has been terminated due to repeated or severe violations of our Community Guidelines.”

“We can confirm that the U.S. Central Command Twitter account was compromised earlier today,” a Defense official told Fox News. “CENTCOM is taking appropriate measure to address the matter.”

The cyber-attack sent U.S. military officials scrambling to respond. “This is bad,” one Central Command source told Fox News. 

The Twitter account, while it was compromised, carried an image identifying the page as “CyberCaliphate,” with a message that said, “I love you ISIS.” 

The page began posting screen shots of information about military commanders, including phone numbers and email addresses. It also posted what purported to be “Korean scenarios” and “China scenarios,” with maps. 

The same image at the top of the hacked Twitter page has also been emblazoned atop Central Command’s YouTube page. 

Asked about the hack on Monday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said it’s “something we take very seriously.” But he stressed there is a difference between a “large data breach” and the “hacking of a Twitter account.” He said officials are investigating the extent of the incident.