In the most recent example among a growing list of high profile cyber security breaches, the Twitter account belonging to the Untied States Central Command ("Centcom"), one of the symbols of U.S. military might, was apparently infiltrated by ISIS sympathizers on Monday. The Twitter feed, usually home to information about the ongoing war overseas to irradiate ISIS, among other strategic military activities carried out by the United States of America around the globe, was temporarily transformed into into a sounding board for anti-American threats and other propaganda as a consequence of the intrusion. A screen shot of the way that the hackers transformed the otherwise patriotic site is below:
According to The Washington Post's Checkpoint blog, " . . . military experts, journalists and analysts are pointing out that there's less to the hack than may initially seem." Apparently, the hackers showed their cards (or lack thereof) by subsequently releasing public information and claiming that it constituted confidential national security related material secured in the hacking, The Washington Post is reporting.
After restoring its Twitter page, Centcom issued a statement, downplaying the intrusion by stating that third-party hosted servers had been merely ". . . compromised for approximately 30 minutes[,]" and reassuring the public that "CENTCOM's operational military networks were not compromised and there was no operational impact to U.S. Central Command." Resisting escalation of the event to the same "cyberterrorism event" status given to the Sony hacking last month, Centcom referred to the incident in its public statement on the matter as merely an act of "cybervandalism."
No organization is immune from cyber attacks. They happen to small organizations, large organizations, and the most powerful military organizations in the history of the world. Cyber attacks cripple businesses, hamper productivity, and worse. The Department of Homeland Security has promulgated a series of "tips" geared at minimizing the cyber security threat. The common thread to each is equal part vigilance and proactive security measures like taking certain steps with passwords and other authenticating information. Doing businesses in the 21st Century requires these important measures to ensure the continuity of our systems and the privacy of our data. For more on how the threat of cyber attacks could impact your business and how to be prepared, please contact me directly.
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