In light of CENTCOM’s Twitter-hacking this morning, the government General Services Administration set up an audit of all government-run social media, BuzzFeed reports.
“Immediately after the hack was noticed, GSA began widespread distribution of guidance for preparing for and responding to social media hacking, an instructional video on how to increase security with two-step verification, and asked more than 800 federal managers in the SocialGov Community to conduct independent audits of their programs and confirm the audits with their leadership,” a GSA spokesperson told BuzzFeed.
Hackers claiming to be members of ISIS had taken over CENTCOM’s Twitter and Youtube accounts earlier and merrily tweeted during Obama’s ill-timed speech on cybersecurity.
“AMERICAN SOLDIERS, WE ARE COMING, WATCH YOUR BACK. ISIS,” the account tweeted. After forty minutes of similar tweets the account was suspended.
The GSA also tweeted advice on avoiding social media hacking. Some of the tips–like “Never give your username and password out to untrusted third parties, especially those promising to get you followers or make you money”—are things one would hope federal employees already knew about.
Obama is giving another speech on cybersecurity tomorrow. Best of luck to the GSA in averting a second Twitter-crisis.
