E! Online Twitter Account Hacked, Syrian Electronic Army Takes Credit
Entertainment news outlet E!'s
Twitter account was hacked
Saturday, tweeting fake headlines
about Justin Bieber, Angelina Jolie
and the conflict in Syria. The Syrian
Electronic Army, a group of
hackers aligned with Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad, is
claiming responsibility for the
hack.
"Exclusive: Justin Bieber to E!
online: I'm a gay," reads the first
fake tweet, sent at approximately 1
p.m. ET. "Angelina Jolie admits, in
E! latest issue, that Jordan is to
blame for the Syrian refugees'
atrocious conditions," reads
another. The obviously fake tweets
have been retweeted thousands of
times between them.
The fake tweets contained
shortlinks appearing to be
legitimate, but may point visitors'
browsers to malware downloads or
other damaging sites. It is
inadvisable to click any links
tweeted by @eonline until the
situation is resolved.
SEE ALSO: What Is the Syrian
Electronic Army?
The Syrian Electronic Army was also
responsible for hacking the
Associated Press Twitter account
last month, sending a false story
about an attack on the White
House that had a temporary but
serious impact on the financial
markets. That hack sparked fresh
pleas from many Twitter users for
the company to roll out two-step
verification, a security feature used
by many other online platforms.
A spokesperson for E! parent
company NBCUniversal could not
be reached for comment.
