Minutes after President Obama delivered his speech on digital protection, an alleged pro-ISIL hacking group identifying itself as CyberCaliphate, hacked into U.S. Central Commands twitter account. Hackers changed the account's profile picture and made several posts.
"We can confirm that the U.S. Central Command's Twitter and YouTube accounts were compromised earlier today," a U.S. Defense official said.
"i love you isis," the profile picture read.
Several tweets listed the names, phone numbers, and email addresses of dozens of high-ranking U.S. generals. At least some of these contacts do, in fact, belong to Pentagon officials.
Hackers also posted what appeared to be Pentagon surveillance intelligence. Posted maps seemingly showed Chinese and North Korean military installations.
Later on, a YouTube page controlled by Central Command was also taken over by the group. The YouTube channel, which typically highlighted Centcom operations, showed two new videos depicting pro-ISIL propaganda.
Shortly after hacks were reported, the Twitter and YouTube accounts were deactivated.
"This is clearly embarrassing, but not a security threat," a Pentagon official also told NBC News. "Centcom is taking appropriate measures to address the matter."
Many experts say that the breach may not be as sophisticated as it appears. Much of the information released over the hijacked twitter account was not actually classified. A map of North Korean nuclear sites, for example, appears to be a screen grab from the public website of the Federation of American Scientists.
— Steve Koczela (@skoczela) January 12, 2015
While the Pentagon says that the hack does not pose a security threat since the Twitter account did not contain any classified information, the posted list of phone numbers and email addresses of military officials could be a cause for concern.
This could be the second instance of a CyberCaliphate attack within the last week. Last Tuesday, social media accounts for two local CBS affiliate stations were taken over and given the same profile picture that was seen on Centcom's account.
The hack came minutes after President Obama's speech at the Federal Trade Commission, in which he outlined new proposals to ensure consumer safety against identify theft and data breaches.
— CJ Ciaramella (@cjciaramella) January 12, 2015
The White House also said on Monday that it will invite technology firm leaders to a February 18 summit on how to develop strategies for countering violent extremism through of social media.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said they are aware of the Centcom situation and are "examining and investigating the extent of the incident." He stressed there is a "pretty significant distance [between] a large data breach and the hacking of a Twitter account."
Dr. Sandro Gaycken, a researcher in technology and security at the European School of Management and Technology, told Sputnik that the incident was more of an embarassment than a serious security breach
