Hackers post nuclear leak warning on Israeli military;s Twitter account

USPA News - Hackers identifying themselves as the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) hacked the main Twitter account of Israel`s military on late Thursday evening, sending out a false warning about a possible nuclear leak in southern Israel, officials said on Friday. The incident happened at approximately 11:15 p.m. local time when the verified Twitter account of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sent out a warning to its 250,000 followers.

"WARNING: Possible nuclear leak in the region after 2 rockets hit Dimona nuclear facility," the tweet said. The Dimona nuclear installation, located in the Negev desert in southern Israel, is protected by Israel`s Air Force and is believed to have manufactured hundreds of nuclear weapons. Israel acknowledges the existence of the facility but has classified any information about its exact purpose. The tweet about the nuclear leak was deleted from the IDF`s Twitter account after several minutes, but not before it received hundreds of retweets from confused and worried followers and was reported on by Russian news channel RT, which sent out an "urgent" news alert on its own Twitter account. RT did not identify IDF`s Twitter account as its source. A second tweet in which the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) claimed responsibility was posted at 11:27 p.m. local time. The group, which says it supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has hacked social media accounts and websites belonging to a number of media organizations in recent years, including the Associated Press (AP) and Reuters. "Long live Palestine," the second tweet added. An IDF spokeswoman confirmed its Twitter account had been compromised and said it was investigating the issue. "We apologize for the incorrect tweets. Our Twitter account was compromised," the IDF said in a tweet after the security breach was restored, adding: "We will combat terror on all fronts including the cyber dimension."