The Fourth of July began with a bang for Fox News after hackers sent out false tweets using the Fox News Politics Twitter feed to claim President Barack Obama had been assassinated.
The hackers claiming responsibility for breaching the online security of Fox News identify themselves as "Script Kiddies" and claim ties to the notorious international hacktivist collective known as Anonymous.
The tweets claiming President Obama had been assassinated are of course false, and the president and his family are enjoying the national holiday at the White House.
FoxNews.com alerted the U.S. Secret Service, which is declining public comment. Jeff Misenti, vice president and general manager of Fox News Digital, said FoxNews.com was working with Twitter to address the situation as quickly as possible."We will be requesting a detailed investigation from Twitter about how this occurred, and measures to prevent future unauthorized access into FoxNews.com accounts," Misenti said.
FoxNews.com regrets any distress the false tweets may have created.
The following is a sample of the false tweets the hackers released:
@BarackObama has just passed. The President is dead. A sad 4th of July, indeed. President Barack Obama is dead
@BarackObama has just passed. Nearly 45 minutes ago, he was shot twice in the lower pelvic area and in the neck; shooter unknown. Bled out
@BarackObama shot twice at a Ross' restaurant in Iowa while campaigning. RIP Obama, best regards to the Obama family.
We wish @joebiden the best of luck as our new President of the United States. In such a time of madness, there's light at the end of tunnel
The Script Kiddies claim to be part of a larger global movement of hacktivists in association with Anonymous and the now defunct LulzSec, and claim their hoax is part of an ongoing campaign to expose flaws in corporate and government websites operating under the Twitter hashtag #AntiSec.
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