Users of British broadcaster Sky’s Android apps were left worried after hackers defaced the company’s Google Play page, and simultaneously sent out a warning via a company Twitter account that the apps had been “hacked and replaced”.
“We are aware that the Android apps of Sky+, Sky News were hacked and replaced... please remove the apps if you are already installed it," said the bogus Tweet, sent from the Sky Help Team Twitter account.
Sky sent out a statement to reassure app users that the Android apps had not been affected.
“Sky Android apps previously downloaded by Sky customers are unaffected and there is no need to remove them from your Android device,” the company said in a statement posted on its website. “In a related security breach, Twitter has locked access to @SkyHelpTeam, which is why we are currently unable to tweet from this account.”
Sky’s Google Play page was defaced with logos referring to the “Syrian Electronic Army”, according to the report by Pocket-Lint - a group which has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks against media companies in recent weeks.
The Twitter account was locked immediately, a response, Sky said, from Twitter’s own security team. “Twitter security immediately detected this rogue messaging and locked account as part of agreed standard security process,” the company said in a statement.
Twitter last week began offering a new SMS-based two-factor security system in the wake of attacks against media groups. Earlier this year, Twitter blamed spear-phishing for the spate of hacks. In the wake of attacks this month, Twitter send out an email to media groups saying, “We believe that these attacks will continue, and that news and media organizations will continue to be high value targets to hackers.”
