American soldiers, watch your back says IS sympathisers who hack US Central Command Twitter ac

The News Minute| January 12, 2015| 11.28 pm IST

The Twitter and you Tube account for U.S. Central Command appeared to have been hacked on Monday night by hackers claiming to be from the Islamic State.

In a series of tweets, hackers threatened American troops and their families.

The tweets went on for almost half hour.

The tweets were being posted even as President Barack Obama was speaking about cyber security. 

Announcing new steps to protect the identities and privacy of the American people, President Obama said, "If we're going to be connected, then we need to be protected." 

CENTCOM has orchestrated the U.S.-led airstrike campaign against the militants in Iraq and Syria, and is beginning to train Iraqi troops to respond to the threat in the region reports Washington Post. 

Reuters reported that feed hackers published apparent intelligence surveillance and information on China and North Korea's military plans.

But the tweets remained on the Twitter account for more than half hours, making people wonder: 

The @CENTCOM ISIS-hacked tweets are still up after 36 minutes. Anyone in U.S. Central Command know how to press bloody delete?

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 12, 2015

BREAKING: Screenshot of @CENTCOM YouTube channel shortly before it was taken down. #CentcomHack pic.twitter.com/3rpUYV78ob

— TheAnonMessage (@TheAnonMessage) January 12, 2015

Later, the Twitter account was suspended and the YouTube channel was taken down. The twitter account was later back again and agreed that it was an act of cybervandalism.

We're back! CENTCOM temporarily suspended its Twitter account after an act of cybervandalism. Read more: http://t.co/hiwvSp3uWt

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 13, 2015

White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, in a statement to the media said that the twitter account used public domains and the people had to understand the difference between a large data breach and the hacking of a twitter account.

He also assured the people that no information was leaked.

The Anon Message, which is a megaphone of the hacktivist group Anonymous, tweeted saying that they had traced the hacker to somewhere in the state of  Maryland.

We've traced the hacker who infiltrated @CENTCOM to somewhere in the State of Maryland. @FBI, you're welcome.

— TheAnonMessage (@TheAnonMessage) January 12, 2015

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