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Ryder, a spokesman for the Tampa, Florida-based Central Command, said in an e-mail, “We are taking appropriate measures to address the matter.' He said he had no further information.įBI opened investigations in November into hacking attacks on the state department and postal service that raised questions about the risk of espionage.

#Hack prank software#

Twitter and YouTube accounts for large organizations such as the military are more difficult to manage because dozens of people usually need log-in credentials, said Jeff Williams, co-founder and chief technology officer at Contrast Security, a software security company based in Palo Alto, California.įor that reason, it’s doubtful that Central Command used two-factor authentication, Williams said in an e-mail.Īsked about the hacking attack, Air Force Colonel Patrick S.

#Hack prank code#

In addition to a password, the security measure requires a code sent via text message to a user’s mobile phone, or generated on a device or software. That incident prompted Twitter to bolster its security by offering a two-step authentication process, making it harder for outsiders to gain access to an account. While the hackers reached only social-media accounts, not government websites or networks, such attacks can incite panic and cause damage.Ī 2013 attack of the Twitter account of the Associated Press featuring an erroneous posting about explosions at the White House triggered a stock-market decline. Zayna Aston, a spokeswoman for Mountain View, California-based Google Inc., which owns YouTube, had no comment. is working to help resolve it, the San Francisco-based company said in an e-mailed statement. The Pentagon requested assistance with an account security issue and Twitter Inc. “The fact they were able to compromise the accounts should force the government to re-evaluate their security policies when it comes to social media,' Westin said in an email. The rosters were accompanied by warning messages such as “We won’t stop! We know everything about you, your wives and children.'Īlthough the Pentagon played down the incident, the ability of hackers to compromise official accounts “is an escalation that should cause concern for the US government,' said Ken Westin, senior security analyst at Tripwire Inc., a cybersecurity company based in Portland, Oregon. That information came from pages of phone numbers on publicly available Pentagon websites. The hackers also posted rosters of US personnel, including contact information for three Army commands and a roster of retired Army generals. That material and a similar posting on North Korea actually were lifted from nongovernment, publicly available websites. One posting was labeled “Pentagon Networks Hacked! China Scenarios,' accompanied by maps of China. They temporarily filled Central Command’s Twitter site with threatening messages and crude attempts to suggest an infiltration of classified networks. The attackers called themselves the CyberCaliphate, operating “under the auspices of ISIS,' an acronym for Islamic State’s former name. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is “investigating the recent intrusion involving Centcom social-media accounts and continues to work with the department of defence in order to determine the nature and scope of this incident,' FBI spokesman Joshua Campbell said in an email. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday at a briefing that there’s a difference “between a large data breach and the hacking of a Twitter account.' The incident took place as US President Barack Obama was speaking in Washington about his administration’s push to strengthen cybersecurity and bolster consumer protections from data breaches. The hacking by unknown attackers came within days of terrorist attacks in France in which gunmen claiming ties to Islamic State and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula killed 17 people.įeeds posted to Central Command’s Twitter account read: “American soldiers, we are coming, watch your back,' and “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, the CyberCaliphate continues its CyberJihad.'

Reported breaches on federal computer systems increased to 46,605 in 2013 from 26,942 in 2009, according to the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team. The attack was the latest in a growing number of hacking incidents affecting government networks, websites and social-media outlets.