‘Cybervandalism’: ISIS Supporters Hijack US Military Social Media Accounts
— -- Two YouTube and Twitter accounts belonging to the U.S. military were hijacked by ISIS supporters today, in an incident the military commander referred to as “purely a case of cybervandalism.”
The Twitter account for U.S. Central Command, which is the section of the military whose area of responsibility includes Iraq and Syria, was apparently taken over by a group calling themselves CyberCaliphate for less than an hour. The group replaced CENTCOM’s logo with a message that says “i love you isis.”
Central Command spokesperson Col. Patrick Ryder confirmed the compromise and said the military is "taking appropriate measures to address the matter."
Later, the command said its operational networks were “not compromised” and that there was “no operational impact to U.S. Central Command.”
“We are viewing this purely as a case of cybervandalism,” the CENTCOM statement said.
When it had control, the group posted a message saying, “American soldiers, we are coming, watch your back,” and then what the group claimed to be contact information for dozens of personnel.
Next came a deluge of images of what appear to be unclassified but official documents, including possible war game scenarios with China from academics and public roster lists.
CENTCOM's YouTube account, which has been hosting videos of American airstrikes on ISIS targets, now includes pro-ISIS videos.
CENTCOM said that no classified information was posted and that “none of the information posted came from CENTCOM’s server or social media sites.”
As of this report, both the Twitter and YouTube accounts have been suspended.
The same group claimed to be behind attacks on the websites and social media accounts of local American news stations earlier this month.
