14 DAY TRIAL // The Twitter feed of media outlet Newsweek has been hijacked and the attack has been claimed by Cyber Caliphate, a group of hackers affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS).
The hackers were able to publish tweets under the profile of the media publication on Tuesday and used the opportunity to change the background picture to an ISIS fighter (a man masked with the Black Banner, a symbol used by the Islamic State) and to issue threats against Michelle Obama and her family on Valentine’s Day.
Cyber Caliphate has another 14 minutes of fame
During the 14-minute hijack, Cyber Caliphate also praised “cyber jihad” and tweeted pictures of documents allegedly stolen from the Defense Cyber Investigations Training Academy (DICTA) and the Pentagon.
A lengthy message delivered through an image warned that the group was taking steps to destroy the US national cyber security from inside and that it managed to penetrate computers sensitive to the defense of the nation. “We know everything about you and your relatives and we’re much closer than you can even imagine,” said the message.
After regaining control of its profile, Newsweek confirmed the incident and managing editor Kira Bindrim apologized to the readers for any offensive lines that might have been sent from Newsweek’s Twitter account by the hijackers.
She also said that the security of the newsroom would be strengthened to prevent a similar situation in the future.
Other IBT Media accounts have also been hijacked
Newsweek informs that the Twitter accounts of International Business Times and Latin Times, all sharing the same parent company (IBT Media), were also hijacked by the same hacker outfit.
Cyber Caliphate is not at the first stunt of this kind, as in the past it also took control of the US Central Command (@Centcom) Twitter and YouTube profiles. One of the messages posted read, “AMERICAN SOLDIERS, WE ARE COMING, WATCH YOUR BACK. ISIS.”
Although it is unclear how exactly the hackers managed to get in control of the Twitter account, a safe bet would be that two-factor authentication (2FA) was not enabled and that perpetrators tricked one of the account administrators into providing the credentials through a phishing email.
2FA is a feature that protects access to an online account by demanding a second authentication code besides the regular username and password. The code is sent to a device the administrator has access to.
The FBI has stepped in and started to investigate the hijack because of the tweets threatening the Obama family.
Newsweek's Twitter handle was hacked earlier today by "Cyber Caliphate" group that claims to be associated with ISIS— http://t.co/SAcVexFigU
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) February 10, 2015
