Syrian Electronic Army hacks Skype’s Twitter to warn of ongoing surveillance

The Syrian Electronic Army has hacked Skype's Twitter account to accuse the company's owner, Microsoft, of colluding with governments to share user data.

"Don't use Microsoft emails (hotmail, outlook). They are monitoring your accounts and selling the data to the governments," the collective tweeted on New Year's Day, before posting the contact details of the company's outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer. "You can thank Microsoft for monitoring your accounts/emails using this details," it said. Communicating across Skype's Twitter feed, Facebook page, and blog, the group went on to implore the FBI to "stop spying on people."

Skype, having regained control of its account, provided no retort to the accusation, but tweeted, "You may have noticed our social media properties were targeted today. No user info was compromised. We're sorry for the inconvenience."