The Twitter and YouTube accounts belonging to the US Central Command were compromised on Monday by people who claimed they hacked sensitive US military PCs and leaked confidential material in support of the Islamic State.
The compromised CENTCOM Twitter account contained graphics and text supporting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and it warned the US to expect more hacks. It was carried out by a person or group dubbed the CyberCaliphate. Central Command is one of nine unified commands in the US military. With its area of responsibility covering Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Iran, it leads the US campaign against Islamic State extremists. Monday's attacks appeared to be carried out by the same group that earlier this month commandeered the Twitter accounts of CBS affiliate WBOC-TV and the Albuquerque Journal.
At the time this post was being prepared, there was conflicting evidence supporting the claim that anything more than CENTCOM's Twitter and YouTube accounts were compromised. Files linked in a post on Pastebin contained what appeared to be rosters of US military personnel, including contact information for Army commands and retired Army generals. A separate series of documents, contained in a folder titled war-scenarios, showed PowerPoint slides that appeared to be related to war games exercises involving China, North Korea, and regions in Africa, Indonesia, and the Caspian. One slide in a file titled SOCOM_Africa_Scenario.ppt was dated January 12, 2015. It proposed a CIA operation in Congo and Southern Africa dubbed "Operation Cakewalk" to seize yellowcake uranium. CENTCOM officials confirmed the compromise of the social networking accounts but told CNN none of the leaked documents appeared to be classified.
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