On January 12, the U.S. military became a social media target of Islamic State sympathizers. Hackers claiming to be associated with the terrorist organization ISIS hacked the U.S. military’s Central Command Twitter (CENTCOM) and YouTube accounts. The messages, videos and tweets sent out contained Islamic State propaganda, and warnings from the group and military documents containing information about military family members.
According to CNN, the first tweet was sent out at about 12:30 p.m. ET and said, “AMERICAN SOLDIERS, WE ARE COMING, WATCH YOUR BACK. ISIS.” CENTCOM’s Twitter profile photo then became a black-and-white image of a person wearing a scarf around their head and “CyberCaliphate” and “i love you isis” were written at the top of the page. The account was suspended about 40 minutes later around 1:10 PM.
Not long after the accounts were suspended, they were up and running again along with vague explanations of what had taken place. Central Command tweeted, “We’re back! CENTCOM temporarily suspended its Twitter account after an act of cybervandalism,” later that night around 10 p.m.
This breach in security has many Americans concerned, especially those with family members in the military. However, should the temporary takeover of a Twitter account do anything more than embarrass us? Harding’s Associate professor of political science Steven Breezeel does not seem to think so. “They are trying to give an impression of strength that they don’t actually have, ” Breezeel said.
Breezeel, along with many others, seems to think that this glitch in security is simply a publicity stunt used by ISIS to make its movement seem more global than what it is, which is why he said he believes social media was their medium because people should “attack targets [they] think [they] can defeat.”
Along with the propaganda and threatening messages, ISIS also released personal information about family members of U. S. military members. According to U.S. military officials all of the released information was already public record.
David Crouch, Harding’s director of public relations believes that this has caused a significant drop in confidence for the American public.
“Social media breaches and internet hacking are much more prevalent than we think because of the ease of accessibility,” Crouch said. “Sites like Twitter and Facebook need better security measures.” “The military’s job now is regain that confidence and assure the public of their future vigilance.”
The FBI has been asked to investigate the hacks and as of Friday, January 16th there have been no updates on the identity of the hackers.
