British newspaper the Guardian’s Twitter accounts have been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA), following accusations of slander.
Twitter hackings of the GuardianBooks, GuardianTravel and guardianfilm accounts over the weekend were reported yesterday (Monday).
The group responsible for the hacking sent emails to staff members, accusing the publication of “lies and slander about Syria,” the Guardian reported.
A Guardian News and Media spokesman said: “We are aware that a number of Guardian Twitter accounts have been compromised and we are working actively to resolve this.”
Accounts under attack were suspended as nine false tweets were published, including phrases such as “Long Live Syria” and “Syrian Electronic Army Was Here”.
According to online security experts and analysts, the purpose of SEA is to attract public attention as it declared a “state of war with the security team of Twitter”.
Similar cyber attacks were recently experienced by the Associated Press (AP) and BBC.
SEA supports President Bashar Assad, under whom it is thought 70,000 people have been killed during uprisings.
