The Twitter account of US CENTCOM, the command that oversees Middle East, has been hacked
The Twitter account of US Central Command (CENTCOM), the military command based in Florida that oversees operations in the Middle East, was hacked this afternoon by a group or individual purporting to be an ally of the Islamic State (IS), also known as ISIS or ISIL.
"In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, the CyberCaliphate continues its CyberJihad," one of the tweets read.
Several tweets shared personal information of top-ranking military officials, while others displayed war scenarios for China and the Koreas that looked like powerpoint slides.
Some commenters noted that the war scenarios came from Pentagon documents that are publicly available. Personal details of servicemembers, however, would not be among those.
The account was suspended soon after. A CENTCOM YouTube account was also hacked, the Daily Beast reported.
According to its website, CENTCOM's area of responsibility includes Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.
Clarification: An earlier version of this story said that the CENTCOM hackers claimed to be part of IS, which they did not state explicitly.
Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you. We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
Make a gift today, and you’ll help us unlock a matching gift of $67,000!