Sky's Android apps, Twitter account hacked
The British broadcaster removes several of its apps -- including Sky Go, Sky News, and Sky Sports News -- from the Google Play store after being hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army.
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British satellite broadcaster Sky is the latest media company to fall victim to the Syrian Electronic Army.
Sky's Android apps and Twitter account have been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army. A Sky spokesperson also told CNET UK that a tweet from the Sky Help Team advising people to uninstall their Android apps is not from the company.
The Sky Help Team's Twitter account has been compromised, and the tweet that states customers should uninstall their apps is not guidance from Sky. We are currently investigating the situation. We will provide a further update when we have more information.
Sky removed several of its apps from the Google Play store on Sunday, including Sky Go, Sky+, Sky WiFi, Sky News, Sky Sports Football, and Sky Sports News. Before being taken down, the hacking group replaced the logo of each app with its own and changed the description to "Syrian Electronic Army Was Here," reports CNET UK.
Sky News Arabia, Sky News Arabia for Tablets, and Sky News Weather Channel are still available and seem to have escaped the hack unscathed. Sky's apps on iOS also seem unaffected.
Sky is just the latest target of the Syrian Electronic Army. The group, which is sympathetic to Syrian President Bashar Assad, has taken credit for hacking into the social media accounts of the Onion, the Associated Press, NPR, CBS, the Guardian, and the BBC.
This latest hack comes less then a week after Twitter introduced a two-factor authentication system to help members to keep their accounts more secure. Twitter also recently sent out a memo to major media companies warning that "attacks will continue," and urged companies to "minimize the number of people that have access" to accounts to prevent human error.
CNET UK reports that this is the "first time the group has targeted Google Play apps, instead of Twitter and Facebook, or the victim's website."