Pentagon calls hack of military social media accounts a ‘prank’

A group called CyberCaliphate, which might be linked to Islamic State, took over the Twitter and YouTube accounts of the U.S. Central Command.

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Officials quickly took down the U.S. Central Command’s English and Arabic Twitter accounts, along with its YouTube account, on Monday after hackers from a group called CyberCaliphate took control of them.

According to the Associated Press, the FBI is investigating the hack, which involved threats against American soldiers and the posting of what appeared to be sensitive material, including phone numbers and email addresses, as well as documents labeled “for official use only.”

CyberCaliphate also changed the header images on the @CENTCOM Twitter account and added the message “I love you ISIS” to the pages. Officials aren’t certain whether CyberCaliphate is truly linked to Islamic State or simply claims to be.

Either way, the Pentagon is downplaying the incident.

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