US Army Public Website Hacked

The United States' army website was hacked on Monday. The Syrian Electronic Army took the credit for hacking the government website.

The U.S. Army confirmed to CNN that the website was compromised. "Today an element of the Army.mil service provider's content was compromised. After this came to our attention, the Army took appropriate preventive measures to ensure there was no breach of Army data by taking down the website temporarily," spokesman Brig. Gen. Malcom B. Frost said.

NBC reports the website was disabled on Monday afternoon, and then messages appeared on the website which read, "YOU'VE BEEN HACKED" and "YOUR COMMANDERS ADMIT THEY ARE TRAINING THE PEOPLE THEY HAVE SENT YOU TO DIE FIGHTING."

Later on, the Syrian Electronic Army claimed the hack attack through Twitter. The tweet proclaimed, "One of #SEA messages left on the US Army website." The tweet was accompanied by hashtags #SEA #USArmy and a screen shot of the website's error.

After the hack attack, the Fort Bragg, North Carolina Army Base official Facebook page announced warning to its followers to avoid visiting "www.army.mil" for the time being. Army.mil doesn't contain any confidential information, but it contains informational tool, press releases, news and announcements for the public.

The group that took credit on the hacking, the Syrian Electronic Army, is a pro-Assad regime group. The group has been associated with a number of additional cyber-attacks including hacking organisation websites such as the Chicago Tribune and The Associated Press in the past.

The U.S. Army website came after Obama administration officials announced that almost four million federal workers may have had their personal information compromised in a cyber attack. The officials said the attack could affect every agency of the U.S. government.

About four million current and former government employees will be notified that their personal information such as names, Social Security numbers and birth dates might be hacked starting today.

For questions/comments regarding the article, you may email the writer at saraht.ibtimes@gmail.com.