Just 10 days after its last successful hack, the Syrian Electronic Army is at it again. The group apparently made its way into some of Microsoft's Twitter and Instagram accounts Saturday.
Mashable was able to screen shot this tweet, which was posted a little after 2:30 p.m. Eastern time from Microsoft News' account. It shows a Syrian flag with the message "Syrian Electronic Army Was Here."
The SEA is made up of anonymous hackers who are loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Throughout 2013, the group successfully hacked several Western media companies.
The group's activity Saturday also included using the Microsoft News account to retweet a post from its previous hacking of Skype, which is owned by Microsoft. That tweet reads: "Don't use Microsoft emails… They are monitoring your accounts and selling the data to governments." (Via TechWorm)
The SEA even made its way into social media accounts for the Microsoft Xbox. One screenshot mocking the company shows what looks like a hijacked Instagram account. (Via WCCFtech)
Celebrating the hack on its own Twitter account, the group posted a screen shot of what appears to be an email from a Microsoft staff member addressing the incident. (Via Twitter /@Official_SEA16)
The group appears to have used the same method from its hijacking of Skype's social media accounts just 10 days ago, when the SEA accessed them through an authorized user whose account had been compromised. (Via TechCrunch)
In the past, the SEA has infiltrated news websites such as the Associated Press, NPR, Al Jazeera, and even the news parody site The Onion.
When U.S. military involvement in the conflict in Syria seemed more likely back in August, the group directed its attacks at The New York Times and even a recruiting site for the U.S. Marine Corps. (Via The Washington Post)
According to Ryan Neal from International Business Times, the group has been hacking Microsoft in retaliation after Edward Snowden's leaks that the company gave the NSA access to users' account information and emails.
Following the last hack, Microsoft told customers to avoid using their email accounts. The company has yet to comment on Saturday's incident.
