Fox News Twitter account hacked

by Anung Bago · July 5, 2011

Was the Fox News Politics Twitter account (@foxnewspolitics) hacked? Unusual activity on the news division’s account seemed to suggest as much late on Sunday night. Later, additional tweets appeared falsely claiming that President Barack Obama was killed. The account’s icon had been changed from the Fox News Politics logo and featured the following new description: “H4CK3D BY TH3 5CR1PT K1DD3S.” UPDATE: Fox News released a statement confirming the hacking and adding that “the hacking is being investigated, and FoxNews.com regrets any distress the false tweets may have created.” The vice president and general manager of Fox News Digital, Jeff Misenti, said that FoxNews.com is working with Twitter to address the situation as quickly as possible. In a statement he said, “We will be requesting a detailed investigation from Twitter about how this occurred, and measures to prevent future unauthorized access into FoxNews.com accounts.” As of midday Monday, the tweets that had gone out on the Fox News Politics Twitter account as a result of the hacking had been taken down. Below, a screenshot capturing two tweets sent out by @foxnewspolitics on Sunday night: FoxNews said it had asked the Secret Service — whose job is to protect the President — to investigate the hacking, and apologized to its readers for the incident where the “Script Kiddies” gang posted “malicious and false tweets.” It said it alerted the US Secret Service, which will investigate the hacking. It quoted Secret Service spokesman George Ogilvie as saying the Secret Service will do “appropriate follow up.” “Hackers sent out several malicious and false tweets claiming that President Obama had been assassinated. Those reports were incorrect, of course, and the president was spending the July 4 holiday with his family at the White House. The tweets have been removed from the feed,” FoxNews said.

Jeff Misenti, vice president and general manager of Fox News Digital, said FoxNews.com is now working with Twitter to address the situation as quickly as possible. “We will be requesting a detailed investigation from Twitter about how this occurred, and measures to prevent future unauthorized access into FoxNews.com accounts,” Misenti said.