Obama’s social media links hacked, Syrian Electronic Army claims responsibility
The Syrian Electronic Army, a pro-Bashar Assad hacking group, appears to have altered links contained in tweets sent under President Barack Obama’s name. The links send users to a propaganda video about the Syrian conflict.
A non-profit group that manages the social media sites of US President Barack Obama reportedly said Monday hackers had tampered with links contained in tweets sent in Obama’s name.
Reports said the URL link shortener ShortSwitch used by Organizing for Action had been hacked, rather than the president’s Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Links containing a shortened OFA.BO sent Internet users to a propaganda video about the Syrian civil war on YouTube.
The Syrian Electronic Army, a pro-Bashar Assad hacking group, which has previously attacked media sites including the GlobalPost, claimed responsibility for the latest incident on Twitter.
The group was apparently referring to allegations that the United States’ National Security Agency had monitored the private communications of foreign diplomats and world leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Mashable reported Monday that it had received an email earlier in the day from an account believed to belong to the SEA warning of the hack.
"All the links that Barack Obama account tweeted it and post it on Facebook was redirected to a video showing the truth about Syria," an SEA spokesperson wrote, Mashable reported.
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