Newsweek on Tuesday was hacked by a group claiming to be ISIS.
The group posted on Newsweek’s Facebook page the names of people who they described as brave mujahideen, or those who have battled for the cause. On Twitter, the group posted threatening Valentine’s Day tweets aimed directly at the first family. “#CyberCaliphate Bloody Valentine’s Day #MichelleOBama! We’re watching you, you girls and your husband!” and “Bloody Valentine’s Day #MichelleObama! We’re watching you, you girls and your husband! #CyberCaliphate”
The tweets have since been deleted.
IBT Media, the parent company of Newsweek, confirmed the hacking in a statement to NBC News.
“We can confirm that Newsweek’s Twitter account was hacked this morning, and have since regained control of the account. We apologize to our readers for anything offensive that might have been sent from our account during that period, and are working to strengthen our newsroom security measures going forward,” the statement read.
Newsweek later published an article on its website concerning the hack:
At 10:45 a.m., the Newsweek Twitter account, @Newsweek, was hacked by a group calling themselves the “Cyber Caliphate.” The group claimed to be affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS) and has previously hacked @Centcom, the Twitter account of the United States Central Command, as well as the official Twitter account of Taylor Swift. The Newsweek account remained hacked for 14 minutes until 10:59 a.m., when Twitter’s support team regained control of the account at the publication’s request.
“We can confirm that Newsweek’s Twitter account was hacked this morning, and have since regained control of the account,” Newsweek managing editor Kira Bindrim said in a statement. “We apologize to our readers for anything offensive that might have been sent from our account during that period, and are working to strengthen our newsroom security measures going forward.”
During the hack, the @Newsweek account’s profile picture and banner were changed to images of a masked man and the Black Standard flag, along with a message “Je su IS IS.” The group tweeted out offensive messages threatening Michelle Obama and praising “cyber jihad.”
This is a developing story.
Anna Brand