14 DAY TRIAL // Individuals who follow Sky News on Twitter were faced not long ago with a post that claimed the controversial James Murdoch was arrested and taken into custody. Hours later, the news website revealed that the tweet didn't actually come from them, instead they suspect a hacking operation that targeted their social media account.
Media representatives have been debating for days the implications of James Murdoch, the chief of News International, in the scandal that emerged as a result of the discovery of the now infamous hacking phone.
“Sky News has no information that James Murdoch has been arrested and we believe that the @SkyNewsBiz account was hacked,” read a tweet posted by SkyNews on Sunday.
This comes after everyone could clearly read on SkyNewsBiz that he was arrested and questioned.
“BREAKING: James Murdoch arrested over phone-hacking claims. Questioned at Paddington Green police station at 10pm,” read the message which now reveals itself to be a fake.
The initial message was retweeted by a lot of people and many believed it was true, especially since it came from such a trusted source.
This is not the first time when Twitter accounts are taken over by hackers. Not long ago the Prime Minister of Thailand fell victim to a hacking operation that targeted her account. It was later revealed that a student who believed he was doing nothing too bad was behind the hit.
At the end of September, USA Today was targeted by a similar attack. A collective called the Script Kiddiez took credit for the operation in which they wanted to show their talent.
"Fox News, Wal-mart, Unilevel, Pfizer, NBC and now USA Today. who's next? Vote now!" wrote the hackers at the time.
The same gang is responsible for tweeting fake 9/11 airplane hijackings from the compromised account belonging to NBC News. Since the news was so alarming, a lot of panic resulted from the malicious posts.