Pro-Syria Group Takes Credit for BBC Twitter Hack

Hackers claiming to be affiliated with the pro-government Syrian Electronic Army took credit Thursday for hijacking a BBC Twitter account with more than 57,000 followers.

The account, @BBCweather, went rogue at approximately 9 a.m. ET when it tweeted "Syrian Electronic Army was here" and "Long Live #Syria Al-Assad," a message of support for embattled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad

Subsequent tweets were a mixture of threats and insults towards Israeli Jews, countries in the area (including Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Qatar) and governments supporting the Syrian opposition — including the United Kingdom, where the BBC is based