"Iranian Cyber Army" Hacks Twitter, Service Goes Down For Millions
That is reportedly the name of the group claiming responsibility for hacking Twitter, the popular Internet messaging service, by briefly blocking access to the site.
Twitter users trying to reach their accounts early Friday were redirected to a Web page that CNN reported had a picture of a green flag and a message that said, "This site has been hacked by the Iranian Cyber Army."
The image has writing in Arabic, English and Farsi, the language of Iran.
The top of the graphic says in large English letters:
Iranian Cyber Army
THIS SITE HAS BEEN HACKED BY IRANIAN CYBER ARMY
iRANiAN.CYBER.ARMY@GMAIL.COM
At the bottom in small letters it reads:
U.S.A. Think They Controlling And Managing Internet By Their Access, But THey Don't, We Control And Manage Internet By Our Power, So Do Not Try To Stimulation Iranian Peoples To….
NOW WHICH COUNTRY IN EMBARGO LIST? IRAN? USA?
WE PUSH THEM IN EMBARGO LIST
Take Care.
The image contains two pieces of Arabic writing. In large blue letters, it says: "Know that the Party of God will conquer." That could be a reference to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia in Lebanon, whose name literally means "Party of God."
A second piece of Arabic writing is in small red letters on a large green flag. It says: "Peace be Upon Him."
Below it in large Farsi letters is a reference to Imam Husayn, a highly revered religious figure for Shiite Muslims. Shiites are the largest Muslim sect in Iran.
The bottom of the graphic contains a Persian poem written in Farsi.
There was no evidence the hackers are actually linked to Iran.
Last June, Web sites like Twitter and Facebook brought attention to Iranian street protests after anger erupted over a contested presidential election and the violent crackdown that followed it. The Iranian government tried to block media coverage of the chaos, but Twitter and Facebook users found ways to distribute minute-by-minute updates and amateur video that included a young woman's death.
On Friday, Twitter posted a message on its blog that said its Domain Name Systems' records "were temporarily compromised but have now been fixed." The site says it will update with more details "once we've investigated more fully."
As of 9:20 a.m., the site remained down.
At least one other site was hacked