It seems some unwelcome guests made their way into the back-end of big accounts this week. On Monday, the NFL and nearly half of its teams were hacked again by “OurMine” through various social media, including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Da Bears
The Chicago Bears’ Twitter was the first to show strange messages Sunday from a hacker group that called itself “OurMine.” The messages seemed to show that it isn’t impossible to hack the accounts of large companies, such as the NFL.
Similar messages appeared on the other team feeds as well as ESPN. The recurring message posted to the multiple accounts read:
“Hi, we’re Back (OurMine). We are here to show people that everything is hackable.” It also gave an email address for information on how to “improve your accounts security.”
Kansas City Chiefs / San Francisco 49ers
Other teams that fell victim to the hacking include both the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. Both teams are scheduled to play in the Super Bowl this Sunday.
Jack Dorsey
This isn’t the first time OurMine has done this. In August of last year, the group hacked the Twitter account of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in a much more obscene fashion by posting racial slurs and obscenities.
Vevo
In 2017, they hacked video service Vevo and published nearly 3TB of internal information.
On Tuesday, the NFL released a statement seeming to address any concerns that the public might have.
“On Monday, the NFL Cybersecurity department became aware of a breach of a league-related social media account,” says the statement.
“Targeted breaches and additional failed attempts were discovered across the league and team accounts.”
“The NFL took immediate action and directed the teams to secure their social media accounts and prevent further unauthorized access. Simultaneously, the league alerted the social media platform providers and, with their assistance, secured all league and club accounts. We continue to work diligently with the teams, which have resumed normal operations.”
The statement went on to say that the NFL and its teams were cooperating with law enforcement and the involved social media platforms.
It may be disconcerting to hear what can happen when black-hat hacker groups like OurMine can easily find out our information, however they do make a point. If big companies like the NFL can get hacked with ease, what about everyday people?
Another big problem with hacking is the spread of misinformation. The Chicago Tribune reported that on Sunday, the Bears’ Twitter account made a post referencing a new owner of the team – which was later proven false.
Despite these issues, experts seem to understand how this happens as well as how to fix it.
Jim Zuffoletti, the CEO of Safeguard Cyber, said in an interview with The Washington Post, that social media is so easy to set up and that many companies don’t prioritize security. But they should think about it the same way as they would secure a laptop, phone or any other device interacting with their network.
“Know what assets you’ve got, don’t forget the basics like two-factor and think about this as part of your perimeter and do something about it,” says Zuffoletti.
In an age where hacking is as simple as the click of a button and misinformation runs rampant throughout the internet, it might seem like they’re inevitable. All we can hope to do is stay vigilant and make sure we’re getting the right information, as well as making sure we use the right resources to keep the people you don’t want on the inside – on the outside.
