Fox has found it has been made the target of a hacking campaign once again after attackers managed to compromise the Fox News Politics Twitter account and used it to spread misinformation that the president had been shot and killed.
Hacking group the “Scriptkiddies” claimed the hack, immediately tweeting the following message:
Fox news politics hacked by the scriptkiddies! http://t.co/6yZDcTS more embarrassment for FoxNews is imitate.Whilst the group doesn’t affiliate itself with the loose online collective Anonymous, or the now disbanded LulzSec, Scriptkiddies reached out to the former to extend its support, offering help with the now infamous “AntiSec” campaign. It also followed closely in the steps of LulzSec by directing visitors to the group’s official Twitter account which, unlike its more established and revered predecessors, was suspended within hours of the account being popularised.
The group quickly set up a new account, which at the time of writing contains one tweet:
Our old twitter was suspended @TheScriptKiddie here is the new, hopefully permanent, address. @FoxNewsPolitics just hacked.With full control of a Twitter account with 33,000 followers, the Scriptkiddies group began a campaign of misinformation which first attempted to trick followers into believing the account was back in Fox News’ control, before reporting that President Obama had been shot and had then died:
As America wakes up to celebrate Independence Day, many could be duped into believing the President had been gunned down, especially as they would believe news was being reported by a reputable outlet with an established following.
Also, as we published this report, the group deleted tweets detailing the hack so that the news would appear more authentic.
The group links back to 4chan, a site which is widely reported to house many members that associate themselves with the Anonymous collective, following advice from one such member which suggested they do the following:
If you had tweeted some fake news (i.e. Fox News sources say Obama died of a heart attack this evening), it would have had a bigger impact. Just saying. Others would have taken it over and sourced it to Fox News.It is not known whether Fox News is aware of the compromise, we have reached out to them for comment.
1 comments
NEW YORK (AP) — Hackers broke into Fox's political Twitter account early Monday, posting updates saying President Barack Obama had been assassinated.
A series of six tweets coming from the FoxNewsPolitics account reported that Obama had been shot to death in Iowa and the shooter was unknown.
In a statement posted on its website later Monday morning, Fox News called the tweets "malicious" and "false." It said the hacking is being investigated.
Obama plans to spend the July Fourth holiday at a barbecue at the White House with military families and administration staffers.
Fox's political Twitter account has more than 34,000 followers.
Post a Comment