Syrian Electronic Army Targets Obama's Social Media

The Syrian Electronic Army has taken aim at United States President Barack Obama's Facebook and Twitter updates. The result: Obama's updates directed visitors to the Syrian Electronic Army's own websites for a limited time.

The Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) is a loose collective of hackers who support besieged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The U.S. government's support of rebel forces in Syria has brought the SEA into conflict with the Obama administration and the American media.

SEA Redirects Twitter Users to Terrorism Video

This most recent hack took place on Monday, October 28, 2013, and affected Obama's Facebook and Twitter pages. The Syrian Electronic Army successfully hijacked Obama's accounts, thereby allowing them to redirect traffic to a 24-minute video called "Syria Facing Terrorism".

There's no mystery about who was responsible since the Syrian Electronic Army has already stated it was behind the attack.

"Thank you Obama for redirecting people to the #SEA website http://OFA.BO/SEA #SyrianElectronicArmy," one Twitter message noted. (Source: cnet.com)

Hackers Exploit URL Shortener Vulnerability

The SEA says it was able to take over Obama's social media by using an exploit in the URL shortener Obama's administration uses to promote Organizing for Action, a group that promotes the new Obamacare program.

The Syrian Electronic Army also says it was able to gain access to the email accounts used by Obama and his team.

"We accessed many Obama campaign emails accounts to assess his terrorism capabilities. They are quite high," the SEA said in another tweet.

Twitter says it's important users recognize that the Syrian Electronic Army was able to exploit Obama's unique URL shortener, meaning it did not directly access the President's own Twitter account.

"The account's custom, third-party URL shortener which it uses to produce vanity URLs was compromised, not the Twitter account," a Twitter spokesperson told the media.

This is hardly the first high-profile attack by the Syrian Electronic Army. In recent months it has successfully hacked The Associated Press, CNN, and The New York Times. (Source: allthingsd.com)