A case of clever hacking has once again shown the importance of using best practices (and strong passwords) on business social media accounts.
On Monday, hackers managed to gain access to the official Twitter account for fast-food restaurant chain Burger King. While the hack only lasted for about an hour before corporate officials managed to suspend the account, the responsible hackers changed the Twitter bio to mockingly say Burger King had been sold to major rival McDonald’s before “the whopper flopped,” and that “FREEDOM IS FAILURE.”
The hackers also sent out dozens of tweets (55 to be exact), some of which made disparaging remarks about the chain and its employees, and all of them carrying the McDonald’s logo as the profile photo.
While corporate officials said no other social media accounts were affected, the relatively mild incident harkens back to the bigger problem of cybersecurity for businesses and government entities in an increasingly online world.
Currently, the restaurant chain is unaware who the culprits are and it’s entirely possible the company won’t be able to discover their identity.
Fast-food rival restaurants McDonald’s and Wendy’s empathized with Burger King’s plight, with McDonald’s officials assuring them that even though their company name was used in the hacking incident, they obviously had nothing to do with it.
