AP Twitter Hack Causes Panic on Wall Street and Proves Need for Better Authentication
American media suffered another black eye Tuesday afternoon when U.S. stock markets briefly went into a tailspin after the Associated Press's Twitter account was hijacked and used to broadcast this false message: "Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured."
In a two-minute span between 1:08 pm EDT and 1:10 pm EDT, just after the fake tweet hit Twitter, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 145 points. The market quickly corrected itself after the Associated Press disclosed that it had been hacked and its Twitter account suspended while it sought to correct the issue. The White House also confirmed that President Obama was "fine."
An organization calling itself the "Syrian Liberation Army" quickly claimed responsibility. According to CBS News, the Associated Press confirmed that the hijacking of its Twitter account was preceded by a phishing attempt on its corporate network.
