CBS Twitter Feed Compromised

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Posted by timothy on Sunday April 21, 2013 @01:29AM from the strange-world-sometimes dept.

The BBC reports that two Twitter accounts belonging to CBS news have been suspended after they were compromised on Saturday afternoon. From the article: "Fake messages appearing on the @60Minutes account criticised US support for 'terrorist' rebels in Syria and others accused Barack Obama of trying to 'take away your guns.' A group calling itself the Syrian Electronic Army claimed to have been responsible for hijacking the accounts."

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curious combination of issues by Trepidity · 2013-04-21 01:36 · Score: 3, Interesting

If we take the messages at face value, it must be someone who is: 1) in favor of the Syrian state against the rebellion there; yet 2) a gun-rights advocate who opposes attempts to "take away your guns".
I guess it's possible to argue both that widespread gun ownership is needed as a bulwark against tyranny, and yet that the Syrian government is not an example of a tyrannical government where it's justified to actually use those guns to rebel. But that's not a very common position.

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10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
1. Re:curious combination of issues by fatalwall · 2013-04-21 01:48 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Its also possible to argue that the two posts are very related in regards to wanting to keep gun rights in our contry and not wanting the US spending resources to support other countries. Sounds like some one from a group like the tea party. The term terrorist for the Syrian rebellion is most likely intended to shame the US gov. As we all know one mans terrorist is another mans patriot. The choice of term patriot, rebel, terrorist, etc is a psychological game.
2. Re:curious combination of issues by Secret+Agent+Man · 2013-04-21 01:55 · Score: 1
  
  It's also possible that the poster of all of these messages is simply a troll trying to say as many inflammatory things as possible.
3. Re:curious combination of issues by Black+Parrot · 2013-04-21 02:00 · Score: 1
  
  That was my first thought too.
  
  --
  Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
4. Re:curious combination of issues by fustakrakich · 2013-04-21 02:07 · Score: 2
  
  What, are you here selling the war also? Have you ever looked to see who the 'rebels' are? In fact this submission is pure garbage to 'inflame the masses'.
  Meanwhile, the FCC says 'obscenities' for propaganda is cool. Golly gee! If only Janet had "Bomb Iran" tattooed on her titties...
  
  --
  “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
5. Re:curious combination of issues by Anonymous Coward · 2013-04-21 02:14 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  It's also possible that the poster of all of these messages is simply a troll trying to say as many inflammatory things as possible.
  Most likely, considering the rest of the tweets:
  "The US government is hiding the real culprit of the Boston bombing"
  "The US government is sponsoring a coup in Venezuela and a terrorist war in Syria"
  "Your duty is to protect your nation from the parasites that have taken your government"
  "Obama wants to destroy the Syrian and American people. We must stop this beast"
  Looks more like trollbait than any one political ideaology.
6. Re:curious combination of issues by Anonymous Coward · 2013-04-21 02:22 · Score: 0
  
  It's quite amusing to see these positions stated, on a CBS propaganda tool of all things.
7. Re:curious combination of issues by femtobyte · 2013-04-21 02:41 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Looks more like trollbait than any one political ideaology.
  Have you seen the political ideologies this country generates? All too often, the reality transcends attempts at parody --- the lobbyist pundits brought in by the media as "serious" viewpoints are more sick and incoherent than the foulest internet troll.
8. Re:curious combination of issues by Anonymous Coward · 2013-04-21 03:10 · Score: 0
  
  If we take the messages at face value, it must be someone who is: 1) in favor of the Syrian state against the rebellion there; yet 2) a gun-rights advocate who opposes attempts to "take away your guns".
  Funny thing about authoritarians, they always stick together: the average "DERE GUNNA TAKE MAI GUNZ" fanboy in the US isn't worried about rising up against the government, they're worried they won't get to go SPORT HUNTING for unheartlandishly-hued people when the shit hits the fan. A preview of what that looks like:
  http://www.thenation.com/article/katrinas-hidden-race-war
9. Re:curious combination of issues by MysteriousPreacher · 2013-04-21 03:13 · Score: 1
  
  Most likely, considering the rest of the tweets:
  "The US government is hiding the real culprit of the Boston bombing"
  "The US government is sponsoring a coup in Venezuela and a terrorist war in Syria"
  "Your duty is to protect your nation from the parasites that have taken your government"
  "Obama wants to destroy the Syrian and American people. We must stop this beast"
  Looks more like trollbait than any one political ideaology.
  Or it's the usual conspiracists' idea that nothing is rejected except it's the official line, even when propositions are mutually contradictory. The various Alex Jones online conspiracy buffets are good examples of this.
  They can hold any number of contradictory positions, leaving it not entirely possible that the Syrian Electric Army is real and currently elbow deep in celebratory bags of Cheetos and protracted virginity.
  
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  -- Using the preview button since 2005
10. Re:curious combination of issues by Anonymous Coward · 2013-04-21 03:22 · Score: 0
  
  What? Support of rebels in one country, and then in another country rebels are labeled 'terrorists'. Serious trollbaiting there. The elephant in the room is your TV|Radio|Computer screen: the soft-power propaganda used by CBS and other MSM in an attempt to make you think a certain way. And it's working on you and other impressionable minds.
11. Re:curious combination of issues by Anonymous Coward · 2013-04-21 03:52 · Score: 0
  
  Or just go with Claud Cockburn: "Believe nothing until it has been officially denied."
12. Re:curious combination of issues by mbkennel · 2013-04-21 03:56 · Score: 1
  
  Right on.
  The Black Panthers were a rare example of a militia who procured weapons motivated by the original intent behind the 2nd amendment.
13. Re:curious combination of issues by GameboyRMH · 2013-04-21 04:48 · Score: 1
  
  Meanwhile, the FCC says 'obscenities' for propaganda is cool. Golly gee! If only Janet had "Bomb Iran" tattooed on her titties...
  If someone could get a woman, three dudes and a sharpie, with the right country names in the right places maybe they could get hardcore porn shown on TV.
  
  --
  "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
14. Re:curious combination of issues by radarskiy · 2013-04-21 07:34 · Score: 1
  
  "But that's not a very common position."
  It's not a consistent position, but it is a typical one.
15. Re:curious combination of issues by Pseudonym+Authority · 2013-04-21 07:35 · Score: 1
  
  omg ppl who disagree with me are RACIST! lol!
16. Re:curious combination of issues by tehcyder · 2013-04-22 02:16 · Score: 1
  
  Alternatively it's some bored 12 year old doing it for the lulz. Sorry, the 1337 hacktivist hit squads of Anonymous protesting against tyranny wherever it rears its ugly head.
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
looks like it's time by DrProton · 2013-04-21 02:36 · Score: 2

for two-factor authentication on twitter.

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"Mit der Dummheit kaempfen Goetter selbst vergebens." - Schiller
1. Re:looks like it's time by karnal · 2013-04-21 03:40 · Score: 1
  
  This is what I was thinking.
  If you are a large organization working with a twitter, facebook or other type of social media - there should be a larger form of authentication and verification in place. For instance, PKI, only allowing communication initiation from a specific network (I know, lame but it at least keeps honest people honest) and THEN passwords for "company" accounts. Compensation at that point could be used to secure this type of additional security, and I think it would be top on the company's list to ensure that these things get implemented so that compromises would be minimized.
  
  --
  Karnal
2. Re:looks like it's time by radarskiy · 2013-04-21 07:38 · Score: 1
  
  Authentication would then require more data to be passed than the actual message.
Syrian Freedom Party by Anonymous Coward · 2013-04-21 03:25 · Score: 0

Dirac Angestun Gesept
Re:First post by tqk · 2013-04-21 04:00 · Score: 2

And slow news day!
I can see modding this into oblivion for its subject, but its content is bang on. Since when is cracking a twitter account of any import/interest whatsoever? CBS' twitter person can't pick passwords? Really?!? "OMG, it's an international incident, an attack on the Fourth Estate, a national tragedy, ..." and this sort of thing happens all the time on slow news days. See the Xkcd "Someone ripped down a CIA poster!" comic.
The most interesting part of this is, someone actually thinks it's worth his time to crack CBS' twitter account. Now that is a wasted existence. Ran out of pr0n, did you?

--
"Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit ..." -- Pink Floyd.
Making assumptions based on content is foolish by drinkypoo · 2013-04-21 04:41 · Score: 1

Unless you have an official acknowledgement of responsibility via another (and more credible) channel, it could just be noise.

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"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Re:First post by libtek · 2013-04-21 05:23 · Score: 1

lulz! Here's yer linkage: http://xkcd.com/932/

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Unequivocally the realest of the realz...
Uh oh, cyberterror by Anonymous Coward · 2013-04-21 06:11 · Score: 0

How long do you think it will take for this to be used as justification for CISPA? Anyone? Bueller?
Constant plague by jones_supa · 2013-04-21 08:27 · Score: 2

What's going on? I keep hearing "Sorry for the spam, our Twitter account was hacked" from various companies all the time.
Does the site itself have security vulnerabilities or are these just stolen or phished passwords?
Twitter should start looking to provide some extra security features to avoid this kind of problems.
Funny by Anonymous Coward · 2013-04-21 10:50 · Score: 0

I follow the CBS news twitter feed, and they are saying the BBC website has been compromised and is erroneously reporting that two CBS news twitter feeds have been compromised.
... and nothing of any real value was lost! by girlinatrainingbra · 2013-04-21 11:27 · Score: 1

CBS Twitter Feed Compromised...
... and nothing of any real value was lost!!!
Why is there any worry or concern over trolls getting access to a poorly password-protected account for a network that skews north of age 70 in its demographics and that skews south of 70 decibels in its television news shouting levels? Was this article submitted by the so-called "hackers" themselves?
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At least Timothy's not drunk or high anymore as he was in the "What do you get mugged in Central London and the local police are..." article from earlier today! Welcome back, grammar!