The Twitter account for The Associated Press (AP) was suspended today, following an erroneous tweet that the international news agency says was the work of hackers. From an AP release:
“Hackers compromised Twitter accounts of The Associated Press on Tuesday, sending out a false tweet about an attack at the White House.
The false tweet said there had been two explosions at the White House and that President Barack Obama was injured. The attack on AP’s Twitter account and the AP Mobile Twitter account was preceded by phishing attempts on AP’s corporate network.
The AP confirmed that its Twitter account had been suspended following a hack and said it was working to correct the issue. The fake tweet went out shortly after 1 p.m. and briefly sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average sharply lower.
AP spokesman Paul Colford said the news cooperative is working with Twitter to investigate the issue. The AP has disabled its other Twitter accounts following the attack, Colford added. At no time was the AP news wire compromised.
Asked about the incident at a press briefing, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the President is fine.
“I was just with him,” Carney said.”
The Los Angeles Times reports that a hacker group supporting embattled Syrian President Bashir al-Assad claimed responsibility for the hacked account and false tweet. “Ops! @AP get owned by Syrian Electronic Army! #SEA #Syria #ByeByeObama,” tweeted an account that the Times linked to the Syrian group. The tweet in question linked to a screenshot of the original false tweet from AP’s hacked account.
The events came following reports that the group claiming responsibility, which called itself the Syrian Electronic Army, had hacked other American media organizations in recent days, including several CBS affiliates.
Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stock exchange index briefly crashed following AP’s erroneous tweet, and rallied after it became clear that the report of an explosion at the White House was, in fact, false.