US military command’s Twitter, YouTube accounts hacked

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Monday that it was investigating the hacking of Twitter and YouTube accounts of the US military command that oversees operations in the Middle East.

The FBI said in a statement it was working with the Defence Department "in order to determine the nature and scope of this incident".

The hack on US Central Command (CENTCOM) was carried out by people claiming to be sympathetic to the Islamic State militant group that are being targeted in American bombing raids.

The Twitter account of CENTOM was suspended; but no classified information was obtained and no military networks were compromised, defence officials said.

A series of unusual tweets were published with apparent warnings from ISIS, as well as links, images and Pentagon documents that reveal contact information for members of the military.

The first tweet was published at about 12:30 pm local time and read in all capitals, "American Soldiers, we are coming, watch your back, ISIS."

The account's profile photo became a black-and-white image of a person wearing a Keffiyeh, or scarf, around their head.

"CyberCaliphate" and "i love you isis" were sprawled out in white letters against a black screen at the top of the Twitter page.

By about 1:10 p.m, the account was suspended.

Central Command's YouTube page was also apparently hacked, and contained ISIS propaganda videos depicting militant fighters.

The group also claimed to have obtained and released classified documents, though Central Command said that isn't true.

"These sites reside on commercial, non-Defence Department servers and both sites have been temporarily taken offline while we look into the incident further," Central Command said in a statement.

"CENTCOM's operational military networks were not compromised and there was no operational impact to US Central Command. CENTCOM will restore service to its Twitter and YouTube accounts as quickly as possible. We are viewing this purely as a case of cybervandalism.

"In the meantime, our initial assessment is that no classified information was posted and that none of the information came from CENTCOM's server or social media sites. Additionally, we are notifying appropriate DoD and law enforcement authorities about the potential release of personally identifiable information and will take appropriate steps to ensure any individuals potentially affected are notified as quickly as possible," the statement said.