14 DAY TRIAL // The Twitter account of Russia’s Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, was compromised on Thursday, and apart from his resignation, the hackers also tweeted anti-Putin messages to the 2.5+ million followers.
After the first tweet announcing the fake resignation (shared by thousands), others followed, containing messages against President Putin and his actions regarding the Crimea region.
On the same note, the hackers posted on Twitter that Putin’s speech in Crimea on August 14 would not contain anything of importance; one of the messages hinted at Medvedev’s future activity: “I'm going to become a freelance photographer!,” according to Moscow Times, and a picture of a cabinet meeting seemed to give weight to his decision.
A press release from RIA Novosti news agency informs that the Prime Minister’s micro-blogging account was hacked on Thursday morning (around 06:20 GMT) and that all the false tweets have been deleted.
Dmitry Peskov, Medvedev’s press secretary, told the news agency that the posts appeared most likely as a result of a hack.
Credit for the hack was claimed by hacker outfit Shaltay Boltay (@b0ltai), who apparently ran a more extensive “pwnage” operation, including gaining access to email accounts and other online services, as well as to his Apple devices.
They published their findings in a blog post, offering some details. At the end of the post they had the following disclaimer:
“All of the above (including the mail file) is a fiction. Any resemblance to real people or events is coincidental.”
"I resign, ashamed of gov actions", "Crimea is not ours, pls retweet". #Medvedev twitter account apparently hacked. pic.twitter.com/DAn90pF2W4
— Paul Gypteau (@paulgypteau) August 14, 2014