Embarrassed by the hacking of the US Central Command’s Twitter account by the Islamic State’s “Cyber Caliphate” just when President Barack Obama was giving a speech on cybersecurity, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has launched a full-scale probe along with the Pentagon. The group also hacked the CentCom YouTube account and posted ISIS propaganda videos.
Obama was speaking at the Federal Trade Commission when tweets started from “Central Command” began and they continued for about 40 minutes till the time military officials shut down the Command’s various social media accounts.
The first message posted by the hackers, with the hashtag #CyberCaliphate, said: “American Soldiers, We are coming, Watch your back. ISIS.” The profile’s image was replaced with a photo that included the text “I love you ISIS”.
“We can confirm that the US Central Command’s Twitter and YouTube accounts were compromised earlier on Tuesday. We are taking appropriate measures to address the matter,” a US defence official told NBC News. Officials said none of the information posted by the hackers was actually classified, adding: “This is clearly embarrassing, but not a security threat.”
“This is little more, in our view, than a cyberprank. It is an annoyance,” said Pentagon spokesman Col Steve Warren. “It in no way compromises our operations in any way, shape or form.” He said there was no evidence that any Department of Defense System or network had in any way been compromised or breached.
The White House also sought to play down the significance of the intrusion, with spokesman Josh Earnest saying: “There is a significant difference between...a large data breach and the hacking of a Twitter account.”