The NFL yesterday "became the latest high-profile victim of hackers as the league’s official Twitter account was intercepted and wrongly announced the passing of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell," according to Ezequiel Minaya of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The NFL "quickly deleted the incorrect tweet and said Mr. Goodell was 'alive and well.'" The message "followed a similar breach in recent days of the account" of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The NFL "didn’t say whether it had recycled its Twitter password or if it had been the victim of a cyberattack before." Symantec Security Technology & Response Team Dir Liam O’Murchu said that "hundreds of millions of passwords have fallen into the hands of hackers following recent breaches" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/8). In N.Y., Rogers & Mather note Goodell "most likely won’t be the last victim of what seems to be a spree of hackings committed by people who appear to be using leaked data to gain access to myriad social media accounts." Indeed, minutes after the NFL account was hacked, suspicious tweets "began emanating from the singer Lana Del Rey’s account" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/8). Former FBI Exec Assistant Dir Shawn Henry said the hack on the NFL is a “relatively low-level type of attack that can be done to target somebody, somebody who’s looking to get bragging rights” ("Nightly News," NBC, 6/7). CNBC's Dominic Chu said, “All of these things speak to just how fragile social media is with regard to how it disseminates news and whether or not that news can actually be counted at face value right off the bat” (“Power Lunch,” CNBC, 6/7).
SHOWING A SENSE OF HUMOR: USA TODAY's Nancy Armour reports Goodell yesterday "posted a 'proof of life' photo on Twitter." He added the caption, "Man, you leave the office for 1 day of golf w/ @JimKelly1212 & your own network kills you off. #harsh." Armour notes the "frivolity that followed at Goodell’s expense was surprising, reflecting yet again how polarizing he’s become" (USA TODAY, 6/8). NBC's Matt Lauer noted Goodell is “being a good sport" about the situation." However, Lauer said, "I don’t know why he would be, because this is not funny” (“Today,” NBC, 6/8).
