Three BBC Twitter Accounts Hacked By Syrian Electronic Army

BBC had three of its Twitter accounts hacked early this morning by a group that calls itself the Syrian Electronic Army, which accessed its BBC Weather, BBC Arabic, and Radio Ulster accounts to post somewhat strange public proclamations. The tweets have since been deleted, and BBC is back to being in control of its social accounts.

Instead of ranting about overt political motivations or other such common tweets that appear on hacked accounts, the Syrian Electronic Army posted fake weather snippets for various Middle Eastern locations, some with their own between-the-lines statement, while others were just altogether odd, such as the tweet: "Saudi weather station down due to head-on collision with camel."

Other tweets read: "Chaotic weather forecast for Lebanon as the government decides to distance itself from the Milky Way." and "Tsunami alert for Haifa: Residents are advised to return to Poland." According to the BBC, this same group, which shortens its name to SEA, has in the past proclaimed support across digital mediums for the Syrian President Bashar al Assad.

In the announcement, the media company stated that a phishing email had been sent to some BBC email addresses. The email contained a link that would help the responsible party gain "password details," but the email has not been tied to the attack at this time. The BBC issued an apology to its Twitter followers, saying that it "strongly condemns" such actions.

[via BBC]

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