Hackers Compromise The AP's Twitter Account, Spread Lies About White House Explosions & Injuries To The President

Whoa! This kind of prank is NOT COOL, especially in the wake of the last week’s awful attacks in Boston!!
The Associated Press‘s Twitter account was hacked today, and the person or persons responsible sent out a reprehensible tweet saying President Barack Obama was injured by two explosions in the White House!!
That is a horrible prank!! What a disgusting lie to spread to a nation so recently wounded!!
The White House quickly issued a statement saying both the iconic building and our President were unharmed and the AP’s account was suspended once Twitter realized what a hacker was responsible.
Ugh! This is even more dangerous and reprehensible than “Swatting!”
As Twitter becomes an increasingly more legitimate distributor of news, security precautions must be taken to ensure these kind of malicious pranks can’t effectively be played!
The AP is one of the most reliable media outlets in the biz and many followers likely feared the worst after reading the offending tweet!
Even the stock market took a quick tumble after the (fake) bad news was announced!
In recent months, both Burger King and McDonalds have been the target of similar malicious hacks!
An account called Syrian Electronic Army is taking credit for the attacks, but it’s still unknown to what degree they were involved!!
If nothing else, we hope this serves as a reminder to everyone — secure those passwords!!!
[Image via 20th Century Fox.]