Syrian Electronic Army hacks CNN's online properties

Syrian Electronic Army hacks CNN’s Twitter and Facebook accounts

By Kate Knibbs January 24, 2014

Syrian Electronic Army The Shadow — The Syrian Electronic Army goes after CNN. Image used with permission by copyright holder

CNN’s Twitter and Facebook accounts were hacked yesterday by the Syrian Electronic Army, a collective of hackers that supports much-maligned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The news mainstay was attacked across several accounts, with CNN’s main Facebook account, CNN Politics’ Facebook account, and the Twitter pages for CNN and CNN’s Security Clearance all hacked with messages praising the Syrian government and disparaging CNN. And that’s not all: CNN reports that the company’s blogs for Political Ticker, The Lead, Security Clearance, The Situation Room, and Crossfire were also compromised.

The posts made by hackers were quickly deleted, but the Syrian Electronic Army’s Twitter feed details the group’s reasons for targeting CNN.

Instead of any actual journalism, #CNN turned into a loud horn calling for the destruciton of the #Syria-n state.

— SyrianElectronicArmy (@Official_SEA16) January 24, 2014

#CNN used its usual formula of present unverifiable information as truth, adopting a report by Qataris against #Syria.

— SyrianElectronicArmy (@Official_SEA16) January 24, 2014

Tonight, the #SEA decided to retaliate against #CNN‘s viciously lying reporting aimed at prolonging the suffering in #Syria.

— SyrianElectronicArmy (@Official_SEA16) January 24, 2014

The Syrian Electronic Army recently focused its efforts on Microsoft, repeatedly hacking into the company’s social media accounts and websites, including Skype’s blog, noting that Microsoft’s compliance with U.S. surveillance methods was the reason behind those attacks.

This attack on CNN represents a shift back to the group’s original purpose, to hack outlets that they believe offer a warped representation of what is happening in Syria.

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