Microsoft’s authorised blog and some of its Twitter accounts were hacked over the weekend. Microsoft‘s
blog and a couple of its Twitter accounts were breached by a group
called the Syrian Electronic Army this past weekend. This hacking came
after the New Year’s hack of Microsoft’s Skype blogging site as well as its social accounts.
Microsoft News and Xbox Support on Twitter, were also breached which replicated The Syrian Electronic Army’s previous escapades with other companies. The posts made by the Syrian Electronic Army on Twitter have since been eliminated on the social platform; however, GameSpot is still reporting that Xbox Support tweets are including comments like “Game On!” and “Syrian Electronic Army Was Here”. There is also a screenshot showing access to Instagram on Xbox as well as Twitter accounts.
Tweets found on the Microsoft News account were a little more serious, making comments about Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox stating, “Don’t use Microsoft emails(hotmail,outlook),They [sic] are monitoring your accounts and selling the data to the governments.”
Until now, it seems that Microsoft has not stated how the hacking has taken place — neither these ones nor the previous Skype ones– but other victims in the past, of the Syrian Electronic Army, have issued notices stating that the SEA apparently use low-level methods involving fake links and gaining users’ trust through the use of the company’s name until users reveal information about their log-in details.
The Syrian Electronic Army used similar comments in their tweets during the Skype hacking. In some cases, tweets were simply recycled but in neither case, was user data ever compromised. A Skype spokesperson at the time of the first incident replied: “We recently became aware of a targeted cyber attack that led to access to Skype’s social media properties, but these credentials were quickly reset. No user information was compromised.”
Microsoft News and Xbox Support on Twitter, were also breached which replicated The Syrian Electronic Army’s previous escapades with other companies. The posts made by the Syrian Electronic Army on Twitter have since been eliminated on the social platform; however, GameSpot is still reporting that Xbox Support tweets are including comments like “Game On!” and “Syrian Electronic Army Was Here”. There is also a screenshot showing access to Instagram on Xbox as well as Twitter accounts.
Tweets found on the Microsoft News account were a little more serious, making comments about Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox stating, “Don’t use Microsoft emails(hotmail,outlook),They [sic] are monitoring your accounts and selling the data to the governments.”
Until now, it seems that Microsoft has not stated how the hacking has taken place — neither these ones nor the previous Skype ones– but other victims in the past, of the Syrian Electronic Army, have issued notices stating that the SEA apparently use low-level methods involving fake links and gaining users’ trust through the use of the company’s name until users reveal information about their log-in details.
The Syrian Electronic Army used similar comments in their tweets during the Skype hacking. In some cases, tweets were simply recycled but in neither case, was user data ever compromised. A Skype spokesperson at the time of the first incident replied: “We recently became aware of a targeted cyber attack that led to access to Skype’s social media properties, but these credentials were quickly reset. No user information was compromised.”
