14 DAY TRIAL // The Syrian Electronic Army, the hacker group that backs the Syrian government, continues its offensive against media organizations it accuses of spreading lies about the situation in the country. Their latest target is the official BBC Weather Twitter account.
The account, @bbcweather, was hijacker around two hours ago. The BBC has told security firm Sophos that it is currently investigating the breach, but the messages posted by the hackers have not been removed.
Here are a few of the tweets published by the hackers from the BBC Weather account:
“Forecast for Tel Aviv on Saturday - 5000 degrees Kelvin with northern fog and eastern high pressure front”
“Chaotic weather forecast for Lebanon as the government decides to distance itself from the Milky Way”
“Saudi weather station down due to head on-collision with camel.”
“Hazardous fog warning for North Syria: Erdogan orders terrorists to launch chemical weapons at civilian areas.”
“Scandal: Edinburgh storm warning station decommissioned after maintenance fund diverted to arming Syrian opposition.”
Over the past few weeks, the Syrian Electronic Army has targeted organizations such as Sky News, France24, AFP, the Human Rights Watch, and the Qatar Foundation.
Update. The Next Web reports that the BBC Arabic Online and BBC Radio Ulster Twitter accounts have also been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army. It's likely that all three accounts shared the same password or the same password reset email address.