Posted on January 29, 2020 at 2:57 PM
Hacking Group Says it’s Behind the Hacked Twitter Accounts of 15 NFL Team
As Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers are getting set to compete in the Super Bowl on Sunday, there is likely a more pressing issue at hand for them as they are among the 15 teams how Twitter accounts were hacked.
BBC News reported that a cyber hacking team known as OurMine has already claimed it is responsible for hacking the 15 accounts of the NFL teams. The number of affected Twitter accounts means that the group has succeeded in infiltrating more than half of the NFL teams. Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears are among the NFL teams that have been hacked.
They were the first victims of the attack. After the successful hack of the accounts, Our Mine decided to move on to other Twitter accounts NFL as well as the accounts of other teams. Dov Kleiman, who is an NFL reporter opened a Twitter thread about accounts that may have been hacked. He stated that 15 of the Twitter accounts of NFL teas are now compromised as a result of hacking activity.
In view of the development, 49ers stated that the team is fully aware of the hacking activity and it’s currently collaborating with the NFL to resolve the situation.
The Cybersecurity Unit of NFL became aware of the incident on Monday. In a press statement, the security team said it is seriously working on the affected accounts to patch any vulnerability and restore parity.
NFL has closed the loopholes
The NFL was made aware of the hacked accounts and released a statement on the situation.
The team revealed that the NFL has discovered breaches on some of the accounts as well as failed attempts on some other accounts.
After discovering the break, the NFL immediately took action and asked other teams to secure their Twitter accounts to avoid further attacks. In addition, the league informed the providers of social media platforms.
The collaboration of the league and this platform helped to secure the club and league accounts. According to the NFL, the affected team has resumed normal operations and it would continue to collaborate with the teams to prevent future attacks.
He said that the hacking team does not engage in “black hat” hacking, and their successful hack on the NFL teams is just to prove a point and help organizations secure their accounts properly.
The NFL said that it is collaborating with the providers of the various social media platforms and working with law enforcement to prevent and mitigate such future attacks.
OurMine is claiming to be a “white hat” working group that doesn’t hack to cause any damage to the host system. The intention was to show people that anything could be hacked.
The group pointed out that their target is picked randomly. The group also said it has tried to reach these targeted NFL teams but al alls tweets were not replied back.
This incident is coming a few days before the Super Bowl as the Chiefs go for its first title in 50 years while the 49ers are hoping to secure their 6th championship.
Instagram posts and tweets from the verified social media accounts of the affected teams have disappeared. Bios, banners, and profile photos from the accounts are still missing.
NFL or Twitter have not responded further about their findings concerning the attack. However, a spokesperson of the NFL conformed that NFL has frozen the account upon when it was made aware of the attack.
OurMine revealed an email detailing its response from BBB news. In the email, OurMine revealed that the group stopped its activities in 2017 because of some technical issues. However, the group stated that it has resumed its activities again.
OurMine also said that is is not taking responsibility for the 49ers attack because the team has already locked the account before the hacking group could tweet. However, OurMine did not mention how it was able to access the accounts successfully.
The 15 affected teams include Tamper Bay Buccaneers, the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, the New York Giants, Los Angeles Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs, the Indianapolis Houston Texas. Bay Packers, the Denver Broncos, Dallas Cowboys, Cleveland Browns, Chicago Bears, the Buffalo Bills, and Arizona Cardinals.
