This article was published on April 23, 2013

Hacked AP Twitter account suspended after fake tweet of Obama hurt in White House explosions


Hacked AP Twitter account suspended after fake tweet of Obama hurt in White House explosions

The Associated Press on Tuesday tweeted the following “Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured.” After AP confirmed the account had been compromise, Twitter suspended it just minutes later.

Here is the original tweet:

ap_obama

Attempting to navigate to the AP’s account or tweet currently gives an “Account suspended” message. Twitter will likely bring it back soon but for now the message displayed is as follows:

account_suspended

Multiple other AP accounts have confirmed that the original tweet is false and that the account was compromised:

Notice the timing of all these events. The original tweet went out at 1:07 PM EST. Official denials came in at 1:10 PM EST and Twitter suspended the account by 1:14PM EST, giving a total turnaround time of just seven minutes.

Yet this was enough time for the Dow Jones to drop like a rock (before quickly rebounding once it was confirmed that the tweet was false):

dow_jones_hit

The Associated Press has since published its own story confirming the news. The report says the false tweet was made “after hackers made repeated attempts to steal the passwords of AP journalists.”

This is the latest development in a long saga of Twitter account hijackings. The company has been asked for years to implement two-factor authentication to help thwart such attacks, but it still hasn’t done so despite saying it would one day.

See also – Twitter suspends Burger King’s verified account after hack that claimed chain sold to McDonald’s and Jeep’s Twitter account hijacked, apparently by the same guy behind Burger King hack

Top Image Credit: Saul Loeb/Getty Images

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.

Also tagged with