Skype Twitter account hacked, anti-Microsoft status retweeted more than 8,000 times (BLOG)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCRveggEpweImgKHmN5Hpr_sF3ryEWdOEL1gFljIDxmxGGQ2exPo3syJif_b1NgjaFSegfJoII3sayqvJFZUzDakF1QWYY-pbEh__1aVnGvswewnJQox7T3keROOYqMFmzCNKGf-jwPsI/s1600/skypwin8_640_large_verge_medium_landscape.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCRveggEpweImgKHmN5Hpr_sF3ryEWdOEL1gFljIDxmxGGQ2exPo3syJif_b1NgjaFSegfJoII3sayqvJFZUzDakF1QWYY-pbEh__1aVnGvswewnJQox7T3keROOYqMFmzCNKGf-jwPsI/s320/skypwin8_640_large_verge_medium_landscape.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="article-body instapaper_body entry-content" id="article-body" style="float: left; padding-bottom: 20px; width: 565px;"><div class="p1 pgh-paragraph" id="paragraph0" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px;">Skype is starting 2014 with a security issue of its own. It appears the official Skype Twitter account has been compromised by the Syrian Electronic Army. The hacking group has taken over the account today, posting several tweets in what appears to be a classic case of phishing. The <a href="https://twitter.com/Skype/status/418495453471068161" style="color: #fb4834; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">most recent fake tweet</a> advises Skype’s three million followers to avoid Microsoft’s email services. "Don't use Microsoft emails(hotmail,outlook), they are monitoring your accounts and selling the data to the governments. More details soon #SEA."</div><div class="p1 pgh-paragraph" id="paragraph1" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px;">The tweet in question has been retweeted more than 8,000 times, and has remained online and accessible for more than two hours. Another tweet posted earlier today, which has since been deleted, said "stop spying on people," in a message clearly related to <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/11/4514938/nsa-could-pull-email-or-video-calls-from-microsofts-servers-says-guardian" style="color: #fb4834; text-decoration: none;">recent NSA accusations</a>. Syrian Electronic Army hackers also compromised Skype’s Facebook page and a company blog hosted at Skype’s website. Both have since been rectified, and it appears they're also related to account phishing rather than any wider security compromise of Skype's service. While <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/27/4665562/syrian-electronic-army-also-targets-twitter-with-latest-hack" style="color: #fb4834; text-decoration: none;">previous high-profile Twitter account compromises</a> have <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/23/4257392/ap-twitter-hacked-claims-explosions-white-house-president-injured" style="color: #fb4834; text-decoration: none;">been dealt with swiftly</a>, this particular embarrassing breach comes on New Year’s Day at a time when mangers of the account are likely on vacation. We’ve reached out to Microsoft for comment on the Twitter hack, and we’ll update you accordingly.</div><div class="p1 pgh-paragraph" id="paragraph2" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px;"><b>Update</b>: Skype has deleted the tweet after more than two hours.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px;"></div><center style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><img alt="Skypehack" class="photo" src="http://cdn1.sbnation.com/assets/3794215/skypehack.jpg" style="border: 0px;" /></center><center style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></center><center style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The Verge</center><div class="article-meta clearfix" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #999999; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin: 20px 0px 0px; zoom: 1;"><ul class="simplelist sourcelist clearfix" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 20px 0px 0px; width: 510px; zoom: 1;"><li class="via clearfix" style="clear: both; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; zoom: 1;"></li></ul></div></div></div>

Skype Twitter account hacked, anti-Microsoft status retweeted more than 8,000 times (BLOG)

Skype is starting 2014 with a security issue of its own. It appears the official Skype Twitter account has been compromised by the Syrian Electronic Army. The hacking group has taken over the account today, posting several tweets in what appears to b…

Read more »