WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Twitter account for U.S. Central Command was suspended Monday after it was hacked by ISIS sympathizers, a defense official told CNN.
“We can confirm that the U.S. Central Command Twitter account was compromised earlier today. CENTCOM is taking appropriate measure to address the matter,” a defense official told CNN.
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 p.m. ET and read: “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. ET, 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 Defense officials who spoke to CNN said it does not yet appear that any documents that have been released were labeled classified.
At the White House briefing, Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the administration was “obviously looking into” the incident but did not have further information as of Monday afternoon.
Jose Pagliery, Jamie Crawford and Ashley Killough contributed to this report.
