The Twitter account belonging to the New York Times was hacked by the OurMine group which left this message: “BREAKING: leaked statement from Vladimir Putin says: Russia will attack the United States with Missiles.”

The message was deleted around 10am, but was soon after followed up with another message from the OurMine group claiming to have co-opted the account but not taking responsibility for the Russian message.

OurMine is known to compromise Twitter accounts and then request a "ransom" to disclose the vulnerability. OurMine posted another message on the Times account stating that the media outlet should contact the group "to fix the issue."

“Hackers are realizing the power of social media over influential news sources like the New York Times, and are breaching accounts to try and essentially control or sway the news," Michael Raggo, chief research scientist at ZeroFOX. "Twitter has become intertwined with our society and culture – with individuals turning to the platform to communicate, collaborate and stay informed on a global scale."

Such breaches to media accounts could be viewed as news that could trigger a knee-jerk public reaction impacting stock markets, threatening national security or even possibly sparking military tension. "Everyone in today's always-connected society must be maintaining a high-level of security awareness, especially media companies as they serve as news mouthpieces of our nation."

Source: SCMagazine