It appears more Microsoft accounts have been hijacked by the Syrian Electronic Army, the hacking group that are supporters of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The group were able to successfully take over the Microsoft News Twitter account and the Official Microsoft Blog.
@Official_SEA16 This post took 154 Retweets :) pic.twitter.com/0PJ4RnlrGL
— ♥Dove Syrienne♥ (@DoveSyrienne) January 11, 2014
The Official Microsoft Blog: Syrian Electronic Army Was Here #SEA pic.twitter.com/CzYH5jMrY8
— SyrianElectronicArmy (@Official_SEA16) January 12, 2014
However, what might be more worrying is that the Syrian Electronic Army may be monitoring internal communications within Microsoft. The group has posted two screenshots of internal emails on their Twitter account – one from Steve Clayton, who is a “Microsoft storyteller”; and another sent to the “Next at Microsoft” team about the Official Microsoft blog redirecting to the Syrian Electronic Army’s website.
What @Microsoft staff are doing now. #SEA pic.twitter.com/nAij4vyFeu
— SyrianElectronicArmy (@Official_SEA16) January 12, 2014
What @MSFTnews staff are doing now. #SEA pic.twitter.com/rPs0gAy5MG
— SyrianElectronicArmy (@Official_SEA16) January 11, 2014
UPDATE [13:25]: The Verge is reporting that the Microsoft hacking is a distraction. According to a spokesperson said in an email to the site, “We are making some distraction for Microsoft employees so we can success in our main mission.”