CENTCOM Social Media Accounts Hacked by Apparent ISIS Supporters

[villager]

A group describing themselves as the “CyberCaliphate” apparently gained control of the official Twitter and YouTube pages of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) on Monday and began posting messages supportive of the jihadist group Islamic State (also known as ISIS).

The hack occurred at the same time as President Barack Obama was giving a speech on cybersecurity at the offices of the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C.

On Twitter, the group posted a message that declared “Pentagon networks hacked” where they indicated they broke into military “networks and personal devices.” In the message the “CyberCaliphate” identified themselves as being “under the auspices of ISIS.” They also included links to what they described as leaked military files. They then began posting screenshots they described as “China scenarios.”

The @CENTCOM account on Twitter is now suspended. The fact that both Twitter and YouTube accounts were compromised at the same time suggests that they may have used the same password for both — always a serious mistake.

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http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/44207_CENTCOM_Social_Media_Accounts_Hacked_by_Apparent_ISIS_Supporters#eHwjkUOzXcw09eOY.99

[Takket]

1. just read this on CNN

CNN link to the same article...

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/12/politics/centcom-twitter-hacked-suspended/index.html

Well, it looks like America has been brought to its knees. They have our twitter account!

[JaneyVee]

2. The hell does CENTCOM have a youtube page for?

[arcane1]

5. Propaganda would be my first guess.

And my second.

[herding cats]

3. They used the same password for both accounts?

Come on, they couldn't be that foolish, could they?

[villager]

4. Our wise and far-seeing military overlords could never be that foolish!

Perish the mere thought!

[herding cats]

7. I feel safer just knowing they're in charge!

What do you want to bet the passwords were something like "password" too.

[JaneyVee]

6. Password: love2dr0neU

[herding cats]

9. Ha!

But in all honesty, that may be too creative for them.

[villager]

11. Right. It might have just been "DroneBoy."

The interior capital for "B" was probably their nod toward making it "secure."

[JonLP24]

10. I use several varations of the same password

I randomly came up for WebTV in '98 or '99 for all my accounts except for the ones I use the randomly generated DU password from 2008. For years, every time I switched it up more than that I hit a wall or so much time has passed that I forgot. I'd rather get into the accounts rather than make it more difficult for me to get into. I'm not defending their choice or making an argument for passwords to choose. I recognize that is foolish and me narrowing down what passwords I use and a site & password I use on the world wide web is likely incredibly unwise. I like telling the truth more than keeping secrets but I hit the brakes when it begins to involve other people. My point is there is a point to all this.

The thing that led to my current system is when I had AKO (Army Knowledge Online) e-mail account which was assigned to me, the password I'd choose but it had to be so long, have a lower & upper case, a number, one of these $#@ probably something else too but they'd make you choose a new one every 2 weeks I had to constantly come up with new passwords, write it down, remember and I forgot so many passwords that I created. If the Army through an official government website sets it up this way over an account if someone hacked into would get e-mails to my ex-wife and could have done some correspondence courses for me how does CENTCOM not have the same set-up? I'd have to read the details of the hack but if they have a set-up over something somewhat sensitive but for CENTCOM?

On edit - I realized they could view & access documents through AKO such as an Enlisted Record Brief which would have my social & other info but there is much paperwork with my social on it in the Army so I'm sure there is a piece of paper out there that I'd prefer wasn't)

[herding cats]

14. Most of my employers have had me change my PW monthly.

There's the random character requirement, upper and lowercase and at least one number. You can reuse passwords some places, but most have a time limit on how long ago it was used. It's serious business and they want you to treat it as such.

Riffing on CENTCOM for what appears to be a case where they may well have used the same PW for two separate social media accounts is in good fun, but it is a bit surprising if it turns out to be true. Why make it easier for a hacker, you know? I'll be surprised if it's true. When I worked somewhat recently doing government contract work where I handled federal documents and cases, I had to have my personal PW - which met the requirements above - and use a separate PW to access certain files which also was changed regularly, and I was just a low rent contract admin.

[JonLP24]

15. I always make the mistake of reading threads before the story

I thought it was probably a CENTCOM site like Army.mil that was hacked but it appears the Youtube & Twitter accounts were the password used so there is the 'duh' as to why they wouldn't use the same requirements for their own system but who is the 'CENTCOM' person who was tasked to come up with the password & login and by who and I'm asking questions I'll never get the answer to. It is still strange something official ran by officials but more understandable but with those accounts I can't imagine much else would be found besides the information they shared to the public which I imagine would be the purpose of having those 2 accounts. Still, I agree.

[herding cats]

16. Yeah, this is not a thing by any means.

It's funny to joke about, but it's not any sort of real issue. Still, the admin of those accounts learned the value of not using the same password on multiple accounts. They've had a terrible, horrible, very bad Monday!

[JonLP24]

17. Yeah, if it was into a CENTCOM system I thought it would be more likely

it was someone obviously pretending to be the convenient culprit.

However reading the story and noticing it was Twitter & Youtube and it was replaced with the motive is clear which was take off their propaganda & replace it with their own and they are already have an emphasize on social media it all fits but the whole thing is ridiculous. Propaganda is bad for you but I'm more concerned if I'm going to wake up in time tomorrow than this hack.

[JonLP24]

8. CENTCOM was likely hacked by somebody who pretended to be ISIS as a cover

Last edited Mon Jan 12, 2015, 04:22 PM - Edit history (1)

this is a common tactic, make it look like somebody else did it and convenient targets are easy ones. This was also the logic behind prison hits in the movie Blood in Blood Out.

At some point you wonder about a double psych. If you are the convenient target, do you make it look like you did it to throw them off you since its been done so many times like "cry wolf".

One thing though about ISIS, they are the type that hack and say they did it. They wouldn't want to cover their tracks so there is that.

[KittyWampus]

12. We need to send these guys another few billion dollars to upgrade our internet security.

how stupid.

[villager]

13. Plus we need a new law allowing them monitor everyone else's passwords! For "security!"