Gibson Index

2013-04-25: Associated Press Twitter Feeds Hijacked, Fake News Tweeted

Level Two Attack

Twitter accounts belonging to the Associated Press were compromised earlier this week, resulting in fake news being tweeted that there had been an explosion at the White House. This incident is thought to be linked to a momentary dip in the global stock markets.

Normally a social media hijacking would be a Level One Event on the Gibson Index - relatively minor, as the scale goes up to Level Seven - but in this case, the incident was quite high profile and directly caused an effect on stock markets. This warrants an upgrade to a Level Two Attack.

Reports from ArsTechnica and TechCrunch indicate that the hijacking was preceded by a targetted phishing attack.

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