The United States military Central Command center’s Twitter and Youtube accounts have been successfully hacked by a group claiming to be connected to the Islamic State. A number of internal military documents, including maps and graphs were posted to the Centcom Twitter feed. One message even admonished U.S. soldiers to watch their back as ISIS continues to advance. While the Twitter account has since been suspended, in response, Centcom said appropriate measures would be taken against the perpetrators.
The hack occurred today while President Obama was giving a speech on cyber-security, in which he emphasized the profound vulnerability such online crime has the potential to render in its victims. He stressed the personal impact, the national impact and the economic one as well. At this time however, the Centcom hack appears to be more of an embarrassing one as opposed to a legitimate security concern.
One message posted on the hacked Twitter account read: “In the name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful, The CyberCaliphate continues its CyberJihad.” Such a post, like the rest, have since disappeared.
According to White House spokesman Josh Earnest, the U.S. is currently looking into the Centcom hacks, which also boasted onscreen messages declaring “Pentagon Networks Hacked! China Scenarios” and “Korean Scenarios.” Earnest also noted that there is quite a big difference between a massive data breach and a hacked Twitter account.
Of course, all this comes on the heels of a massive hack on Sony Entertainment, which forced the global company into quite a bind this Christmas with the release of its satirical comedy The Interview. This too was used as an example during Obama’s cyber-security speech this afternoon. Such a hack is still believed to be linked to the North Korean government, which differs entirely from this newest ISIS led Centcom attack.
Additional information posted to the Centcom feed under the hack included maps of North Korean population centers, nuclear plants and confirmed missile points. Additional diagrams and slides from a federally funded think-tank presentation at the Lincoln Laboratory, were also posted. They also showed maritime defense locations on the coast of China, but not in any comprehensive way. In fact, a lot of these materials can be found on many public, US think-tank websites.
All this more or less amounts to an amateurish attempt to publicly expose so called government secrets. However, most of the information revealed is already in the public domain, including the personal mailing addresses of high-ranking government officials such as General Martin Dempsey – Pentagon of the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. Additional names, phone numbers and addresses of military personnel were also said to be posted on the now defunct Twitter feed.
Yet despite what is deemed an innocuous hack at this time, repercussions will surely lead to a tightening of U.S. cyber security. Not simply regarding the affected Twitter and Youtube accounts of Central Command, but across the board, especially as U.S. airstrikes continue to be waged against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
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