Chipotle's Twitter account was hacked and flooded with offensive tweets including racist imagery, profanity, and threats to President Obama and the FBI. The fake posts also claimed the chain would close December 31, 2015. Security expert Robert Siciliano blamed poor password management and the appeal of high-profile targets.
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An apology tonight from Chipotle. It comes after its Twitter account was hijacked and used to send disturbing messages. Chipotle's Twitter feed overtaken by profanities and racism after the Mexican chain restaurant's account was hacked. Its logo replaced with a swastika. One of the tweets targeted President Obama, another the FBI, and one read, "It is our regret that we will be closing all Chipotle restaurants on December 31st, 2015. @TheCeltic666 has poisoned our meat supply." That account has since been suspended. That's crazy, but you have crazy people out there. Out there that, you know, they have nothing else to do. It's unclear who was behind the hack and why they did it, but Chipotle, just the latest high-profile Twitter hacking. You may remember last month Taylor Swift's Twitter and Instagram accounts were hacked. Even the federal government hasn't been immune. 3 weeks ago, Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East and South Asia, had its account hacked by someone peddling ISIS propaganda.
Just the internet has been— a lot of hackings have been going on, like in Sansa in the movies. Just, it's going— it's getting out of control as of right now.
So it's like I think it's probably concerning because it speaks to general concerns about security online and on the web overall. Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert with Hotspot Shield.
It keeps happening because of poor password management and that the targets themselves, these Twitter accounts, bring in a lot of attention for these criminals, so to speak.
Chipotle has since regained control of its account, tweeting, "We apologize for the very offensive messages sent out from our account earlier tonight." We were unfortunately hijacked temporarily. Now, back in 2013, Chipotle sent some tweets to make it appear that their account had been hijacked, but that was just a publicity stunt to celebrate the chain's 20th anniversary.
