The British Army has confirmed, via its Twitter account, that it has been the victim of a cyberattack, reminding businesses that social media accounts are prime targets.
The Ministry of Defence Press Office Twitter account confirmed the news – which the British Army retweeted – in the following statement: ‘The breach of the Army’s Twitter and YouTube accounts that occurred [on July 3rd] has been resolved and an investigation is underway.
‘The Army takes information security extremely seriously and until their investigation is complete it would be inappropriate to comment further.’
Dan Davies, CTO, Maintel, commented on the news: “The latest cyberattack on the British Army is a reminder that social media accounts remain a prime target for hackers. The ability to use compromised profiles to dupe followers and hack further accounts can lead to huge reputational damage.
“Cybercriminals have built an impressive arsenal of weapons over recent years. Consequently, organisations are increasingly outwitted, outgunned and outflanked by hackers. However, instead of just accepting their fate, companies batten down the hatches and root out vulnerabilities.
“Cybercriminals don’t take holidays, ensuring data is secure must be a 24/7 job. It only takes a single vulnerability to enable a breach. While organisations cannot stop every attack, they need to understand how attacks occur and put in place the appropriate defences to protect what is often their most valuable asset: data.”
