Syrian Electronic Army hack Obama tweet link

PanARMENIAN.Net - A link contained in a tweet by president Obama has been hijacked, Digital Spy said.

The link had originally sent followers to an article posted on the American president's official website, until the Syrian Electronic Army changed the link's destination.

Instead the shortened link directed users to an apparent malware site with a propaganda video hosted on YouTube titled 'Syria facing terrorism'.

In a tweet of its own, the Syrian Electronic Army boasted about its hack

According to Quartz, the SEA had managed to gain access to the email account of a staffer on Obama's Organising for Action campaign, which enabled them to either gain login information or password reset privileges to the link shortener service.

"We've taken measures to correct it," said email account holder Suzanne Snurpus. "And we've all changed our passwords and added an extra layer of login security."

The White House added: "An account with our link shortener was hacked. [But] at no point did they have access to the Twitter handle."

It took 19 hours for the link's alternative destination to be noticed and it has now been edited to the original website.

In a separate tweet, the SEA mocked Obama by showing payments for his URL shrinking service were overdue because he had "spent so much money ravaging #Syria with terror".

The SEA has previously admitted to taking down the websites for the New York Times and the Financial Times.