At least 15 of the United States’ National Football League (NFL) teams recently suffered a cyber-attack on their social media accounts, specifically Facebook and Twitter, BBC reported. The attack was claimed by OurMine, a hacking group, in order to show the need for better internet security.
During the hack, the team’s social media profiles tweeted the same message saying, “Hi, we’re back (OurMine). We are here to show people that everything is hackable.” The hackers also deleted or changed the display photos and headers of some accounts.
Aside from this message and changes, the attackers also posted dubious tweets. During the first attack, the malicious party posted using the Chicago Bears’ profile saying that the team has been sold to a Saudi Arabian official. After, another tweet came saying that the team was trading a notable player $1.
Teams such as the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs, the contenders for the Super Bowl Championship, were also victims of the attack.
While the hack came as a surprise to many, the group said that they informed the NFL before carrying out the attack. OurMine said that they offered its services to the organization in a bid to improve the security of the league’s and teams’ accounts. However, the hackers did not receive any response
According to Twitter, the hack was performed by a “third-party platform.” The Verge identified the tool as Khoros, a social media tool. However, Khoros claims that the platform was not hacked.
In response to the hacks, the microblogging service stated that “[they] locked the compromised accounts” as soon as “[they] were made aware of the issue.” Moreover, they are currently working with their associates at the NFL in recovering the hacked accounts.
When asked about the incident, the NFL did not make any comments.
Meanwhile, the social media company also took down OurMine’s Twitter account. The group is said to be based in Dubai as of the moment.
Aside from NFL-related profiles, OurMine has also figured attacks on the various company Twitter accounts such as Netflix, Marvel, and even the company’s founder Jack Dorsey. The group has also intruded on the Buzzfeed website and other Facebook and YouTube profiles.
Other sports-related accounts were also compromised including ESPN and UFC, said The Verge. As per ESPN, their social media profiles were mere “briefly compromised,” but have taken back access. The hacking group also claimed these attacks.
