CBS hacked - Syrian Electronic Army claims responsibility

The 60 Minutes Twitter account was hijacked along with its Denver local news account on Saturday. The Syrian Electronic Army claimed responsibility for the attack, and is allegedly using to it as a way to show support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and spread anti-American messages.

CBS confirmed that the accounts had been hacked, saying they were working with Twitter to "resolve the issue".





Some of the messages that were posted to @60Minutes included: "The US government is hiding the real culprit of the Boston bombing"; "Obama wants to destroy the Syrian and American people. We must stop this beast"; “WMDs Provided by NATO to Al-Qaeda for a False Flag Operation in #Syria”; and "Exclusive: Terror is striking the #USA and #Obama is Shamelessly in Bed with Al-Qaeda.

The Hollywood Reporter pointed out that the hacking comes amidst fringe conspiracy theories, backed by right-wing radio host Alex Jones, that the Boston Marathon bombings were "false flag" attacks orchestrated by the U.S. government in order to justify expanding their powers.

By the afternoon, both accounts were back under control of the rightful parties. However, Saturday evening the 60 Minutes account was once again compromised. The account tweeted "The US government is hiding the real culprit of the Boston bombing" and now is listed as "suspended."

As far as I am concerned there needs to be more security in place so that this doesn't happen, no matter who the perpetrator is, which by reading through some of the messages seems less like a foreign attack, and more like a ranting loon, just my opinion.

The one thing that I do see is that these attacks are becoming more publicized, and sensationalized, which will undoubtedly lead to others trying to get in on the fame, whether they have a political agenda or just some down time from playing World of Warcraft.