The U.S. military command that oversees operations in the Middle East had their Twitter and YouTube accounts hacked on Monday by people claiming to be sympathetic toward the Islamic State militant group. The hardline Islamist group, which has taken control of parts of Syria and Iraq group, is currently being targeted in American bombing raids.
The hackers made posts that identified themselves as ISIS supporters and threatened Americans.
“American soldiers, we are coming, watch your back, ISIS,” the hackers posted on the U.S. Central Command Twitter feed.
The accounts were “compromised” for about 30 minutes but U.S. officials quickly responded to the hacks. They acknowledged that the incident was embarrassing but claimed that it had not made much impact. The FBI is currently investigating.
Pentagon spokesman Army Colonel Steve Warren claims that the Defense Department is not particularly alarmed, calling the hack ” little more than a prank, or as vandalism.”
“It’s inconvenient, it’s an annoyance but in no way is any sensitive or classified information compromised,” Warren said.
Defense officials also assured in the public in a statement that “operational military networks were not compromised and there was no operational impact.”
Other posts made by the hacked, Central Command Twitter feed had been titled “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, the CyberCaliphate continues its CyberJihad,”and “Pentagon Networks Hacked. Korean Scenarios.”
The twitter had also published a list of generals and addresses associated with them, titled “Army General Officer Public Roster (by rank) 2 January 2014.”
Central Command says that the Pentagon and law enforcement authorities have been notified about the potential release of “personally identifiable information” and is working to make sure that potentially affected persons are notified quickly.
Although White House spokesman Josh Earnest calls the hack “something that we take seriously,” he assured the public that “There’s a pretty significant difference between what is a large data breach and the hacking of a Twitter account.”
