Hacking on the increase this week

By: The VNN Team  //  US News

by Carol Thompson

Crayola, Twitter,  and YouTube  have been hit by hackers this week.

Sunday, Crayola apologized to its Facebook followers after unknown hackers took control of its social media webpage and posted some off-color photos and links.

Monday, Twitter and YouTube accounts for the U.S. military’s Central Command were hacked, and pro-ISIS messages were posted by the unknown hackers before the accounts were taken down for hours.

The accounts were hacked midday Monday by a group calling itself the CyberCaliphate, according to the Washington Post. It distributed propaganda sympathetic to the Islamic State militant group and issued threats against U.S. troops. Centcom’s Twitter account, which had 109,000 followers at the time, and YouTube page were affected. It was a poke in the eye for military, which has used both accounts to distribute information about and videos of numerous airstrikes against the Islamic State militant group in Iraq and Syria, the Post reported.

“AMERICAN SOLDIERS, WE ARE COMING, WATCH YOUR BACK,” one tweet said.

Internet hacking has been on the increase since last year when big name stores such as Target and Home Depot were targeted, compromising tens of thousands of consumers personal information.

President Barack Obama wants to push new laws through Congress on data hacking, student privacy and customer advertising profiles, reinforcing digital security, according to an official from the Federal Trade Commission.

Obama’s new plan would make sure companies inform customers if they have been hacked within 30 days, forcing docile companies to be active and transparent with customers.

This legislation would also make it illegal for companies to sell customers’ identities overseas.

Obama is also looking to make it easier for students to stay secure, by pushing the Student Digital Privacy Act. The new act will make it illegal for companies to sell student information to a third-party, stopping technology schools from selling important student data to companies.

 

Image: Flickr/dyetochange