FBI probes 9/11 hacking of NBC Twitter account

A Twitter hack that allowed the posting of a fake news story about an attack on Ground Zero on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks has attracted the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI's computer crimes unit is now looking into the hacking but has declined to discuss any details - amid reports suggesting a keylogger malware may have helped the hackers gain access to the account. "So far, bureau officials said, they are still gathering information from NBC and declined to discuss any suspects," according to a report on MSNBC, a sister company of NBC News. Last weekend, hackers broke into the Twitter account of NBC News posting fake news of a plane attack on Ground Zero. The fake news items were immediately taken out, even as NBC News said it and Twitter were working to correct the situation. Reports suggested a group called "The Script Kiddies" - which attacked the Twitter account of Fox News earlier this year - may have been behind the attack. MSNBC quoted Dallas computer maven Barrett Brown as saying "The Script Kiddies" is a group that has been "around for a few months." "A lot of them don't like the mainstream media. But they could also just be doing this to get attention and increase their street cred," he said. On the other hand, the MSNBC report said a U.S. government official specializing in computer security said the attack was one more example of just how vulnerable such accounts are to outside intruders. "The truth is it's relatively easy to get into these accounts," the official said. MSNBC said Ryan Osborn, the NBC director of social media, said he was monitoring the account at the time and noticed the bogus messages within seconds, and that the password to NBC News' Twitter account had been altered. He immediately contacted Twitter, which shut the account down eight minutes after the tweets appeared. Malicious attachment? MSNBC said the US government official who specializes in cyber security said a typical scenario for such an attack would be enticing a Twitter user to download an attachment that contains a "keylogger Trojan." A keylogger can pick up the repetitive keystrokes of the user, allowing the hackers to figure out the passwords to the Twitter account. Osborn, the NBC News social media director, said he recently received one such suspicious email as Hurricane Irene was approaching New York, MSNBC said. He said the email came from an unknown sender with the subject "Hurricane Alert" and the message: "Ryan, You need to get off TWITTER immediately and protect your family from the hurricane. That is an order." When Osborn wrote back "I’m sorry. Who is this?" the sender replied, "I’m the girl next door" with an attachment. Osborn said he mistakenly clicked on the attachment and it contained a Christmas tree. "The supposition is that the Trojan horse installed a keylogger on Osborn's computer and was then able to gain unauthorised access to NBC News's Twitter account. With the keys to the castle, it was easy for the hackers - who claimed to be from a gang called the Script Kiddies - to post their moronic insensitive messages," computer security firm Sophos said in a blog post. — TJD, GMA News