AP Twitter Account Hack Sends Markets Briefly Tumbling
WASHINGTON (CBSMiami) – The Associated Press became the latest major company to see its Twitter account get hacked Tuesday. The difference with this hack was that it temporarily sent financial markets in New York tumbling.
According to the AP, hackers compromised the main Twitter account Tuesday and sent out the following Tweet – "Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 both plummeted within a matter of minutes. The Dow Jones had been up roughly 130 points when the fake tweet was sent out and saw that entire gain wiped out.
White House spokesman Jay Carney immediately got in front of the story and said it was completely false. The AP then confirmed a couple of minutes later the account had been hacked. Twitter then quickly suspended the AP's account.
The markets quickly recovered back to the pre-tweet levels within just minutes. Tuesday's hacking of the AP is the latest major international media organization to get hijacked.
Over the weekend, multiple CBS owned properties, including 60 Minutes, 48 Hours, and CBS4 in Denver, saw their Twitter accounts get hacked and malicious links were included in the Tweets. CBS is the parent company of CBSMiami.com and CBS4.
