The Twitter account of the U.S. Department of Defense’s US CENTCOM, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Asia, have apparently been hacked by a party either working for, or sympathetic with, the Islamic State, a.k.a. ISIS a.k.a. Da’esh. A slew of important looking documents — including scenarios about North Korean nuclear sites –were subsequently posted onto the Twitter account.
More ominously, a series of spreadsheets showing names of top officials, retired and active, was posted along with a threat on Pastebin: “AMERICAN SOLDIERS, WE ARE COMING, WATCH YOUR BACK. ISIS. #CyberCaliphate.” CENTCOM’s YouTube page was also hacked, with two ISIS propaganda videos now sharing space with grainy black and white footage of smart bombs falling on ISIS positions.
As of publication, the US CENTCOM Twitter account has been suspended and the YouTube account has been “terminated due to repeated or severe violations of [YouTube’s] Community Guidelines.”
ANIMAL has reached out to CENTCOM for comment and is waiting for a response. Meanwhile, CENTCOM provided the following statement to Gizmodo:
We can confirm that the CENTCOM Twitter and YouTube accounts were compromised earlier today. We are taking appropriate measures to address the matter. We have no further information to provide at this time.
Thankfully, InfoSec Taylor Swift is on hand to offer assistance to the US Military.
(Photo: Wikipedia)
