Skype’s social media was targeted by the Syrian Electronic Army over the week.
“You may have noticed our social media properties were targeted today,” Skype said in a Twitter message late Wednesday. “No user info was compromised. We’re sorry for the inconvenience.”
All of Skype’s social media accounts appeared to have been attacked by the SEA, including their Twitter, blog and Facebook page.
The Skype blog was inaccessible late Wednesday and redirected users to the Skype homepage. At least it was redirected back to home instead a malicious site.
The SEA also created a Twitter message that looked as followed:
The message read: “Don’t use Microsoft
emails(hotmail,outlook),They are monitoring your accounts and selling
the data to the governments.More details soon #SEA.”
The SEA then posted on Twitter to contact
information purportedly of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Stating: “You
can thank Microsoft for monitoring your accounts/emails using this
details.”
Similar messages were posted on Skype’s Facebook page, but it was deleted very quickly, according to TheNextWeb.
The attack on Skype’s accounts appears to
link to the same disclosures through newspapers by former U.S. National
Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden that Internet companies have
provided the agency real-time access to content on their servers for
watchful purposes.
The SEA has aimed for high-profile websites
and Twitter accounts. In August, an attack was supposedly by SEA on
Melbourne IT, and Australian domain registrar. This affected websites
of The New York Times, Twitter and other companies.
A long run
Since the rise of the SEA in 2011, the organization has denied association with the Syrian government.They claim to not be associated with the government, and are not acting on its behalf.
In 2013 the SEA claimed responsibility for hacking into a number of media outlets including the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post and Thomson Reuters. Everyone was taken back when they penetrated the Associated Press twitter account and posted President Barack Obama has been injured in a White House attack.
The exploration into Microsoft’s collaboration on data sharing with the NSA discovered that the transfer of some data to affiliate companies from these attacks seems “to take place lawfully” under a so-called Safe Harbor agreement.
What do you think about the Syrian Electronic Army? Have you seen these attacks on your social media sites? Please leave your comments below, we would love to hear from you!
Don’t miss out on the latest tech news and computer security alerts! Follow us on Twitter at @hyphenet, “Like” us on Facebook or add us to your circle on Google+.
References:
‘Stop spying on people!’: Syrian Electronic Army hacks Skype – RThttp://rt.com/news/syrian-electronic-army-skype-072/
Skype’s social media accounts hijacked by Syrian Electronic Army – PC World
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2083540/skypes-social-media-accounts-targeted…
