Attack on Burger King underlines problems for a fast-growing advertising venue
While most Americans were winding up their holiday weekends last Monday, the phones at the Vancouver, British Columbia, headquarters of HootSuite, a social media management company, began to ring.
Burger King’s Twitter account had been hacked. Its logo had been replaced by a McDonald’s logo, and rogue announcements began to appear. One was that Burger King had been sold to a competitor; other posts are unprintable.
“Every time this happens, our sales phone lines light up,’’ said Ryan Holmes, chief executive of HootSuite, which provides management and security tools for Twitter accounts, including the ability to prevent someone from accessing an account. ‘‘For big brands, this is a huge liability,’’ he said, referring to the potential for being hacked.