Tech

SEA Hacks Forbes, Steals 1 Million User Accounts

The Syrian Electronic Army gained access to Forbes.com, stealing more than 1 million user accounts and passwords.

SEA Hacks Forbes, Steals 1 Million User Accounts
Syrian Electronic Army
SMS

​The Syrian Electronic Army is at it again, this time hacking Forbes.com and stealing usernames and passwords for more than 1 million reader accounts.

The hacktivist group posted this image on its Twitter page Friday, showing it had gained access to Forbes' content management system.

Forbes.com seems to be back to normal, but Softpedia was able to grab screenshots before the site was changed. Several headlines were replaced with the phrase "Hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army."

And because the group successfully accessed an administrator account, it was able to view and download the account information of Forbes readers.

Following the hack, the group seemed to be thinking about selling the database. It asked in a tweet about the account information, "Anyone want to buy it?" But it later chose to upload the data, tweeting out links to the database.

About an hour and a half after the attack, Forbes posted a message on its Facebook page, encouraging users to change their passwords.

"Our publishing platform was compromised. Users' email addresses may have been exposed. The passwords were encrypted ... We have notified law enforcement. We take this matter very seriously and apologize to the members of our community for this breach." (Via Facebook / Forbes)

International Business Times spoke with a member of the Syrian Electronic Army who remained anonymous. The group says it attacked Forbes, because "Many articles against the SEA were posted on Forbes, also their hate for Syria is very clear and flagrant in their articles."

This is only the latest in a growing list of SEA attacks. Others have targeted The New York Times, the BBC and satirical news site The Onion.