Articles have been added to the pages of at least three editors

Feb 14, 2014 08:44 GMT  ·  By

The website of Forbes appears to have been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army. A story entitled “Hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army” has been added to the list of articles written by Forbes’ Andy Greenberg, Matthew Herper, John Dobosz, Steve Forbes (the chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes Media), and Travis Bradberry.

It appears the hackers have gained access to login credentials for the site’s administrative panel. This wouldn’t be surprising, considering that the Syrian hacktivists have often used this attack vector.

In most cases, they’ve gained access to credentials after sending phishing emails to the targeted organization’s employees.

I’m trying to get in touch with members of the Syrian Electronic Army to see what they have to say about the attack. So far, they haven’t publicly announced anything on Twitter. I’ll update this post if more information becomes available.

Update. The Syrian Electronic Army has confirmed targeting Forbes. They’ve also confirmed that they’ve breached an administrative account. They’ve provided me with a screenshot of the website’s WordPress administration panel.

The hackers have hijacked three Twitter accounts belonging to Forbes and its employees: @samsharf, @ForbesTech, @TheAlexKnapp. At the time of writing, only the one of Samantha Sharf shows a “Syrian Electronic Army Was Here” messages.

The hacktivists tell me that besides posting the articles, they haven’t caused any other damage. They’ve attacked Forbes because the publication has “posted many articles against the SEA, with much hate for Syria.”

Check out the gallery to see the defaced pages, the WordPress administration panel, and the hijacked Twitter account.

Forbes hacked by SEA (6 Images)

Forbes hacked by Syrian Electronic Army
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