The National Football League’s Twitter account, @nfl, was hacked on Tuesday and the hacker put up a faux tweet stating that the NFL commissioner had died.
The National Football League (NFL) Twitter account was hacked today, with the perpetrator behind the hack posting a tweet stating that Commissioner Roger Goodell had died.
This was quickly rebuked by a spokesperson for the league. In an email to Reuters, league spokesman Brian McCarthy stated:
The @nfl Twitter account was hacked. @nflcommish is alive and well.
The faux tweet was sent at 12:36 PM Eastern Time. The now-deleted tweet read:
We regret to inform our fans that our commissioner, Roger Goodell, has passed away. He was 57. #RIP.
The tweet was duly deleted before another rogue message was published by the hacker, mocking the league with it.
“Oi, I said Roger Goodell has died,” the tweet added. “Don’t delete that tweet.”
Related read: Hackers Target Mark Zuckerberg’s Social Media Accounts
While the hacker is no doubt up to shenanigans, he or she could face criminal charges, if apprehended.
According to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, anyone who accesses another’s computer or data without authorization is subject to criminal charges, Forbes revealed. A prison sentence of up to five years is entirely plausible for a violation such as acquiring information from an illegally accessed computer.
Furthermore, the NFL could also pursue civil litigation against the hacker, if he or she was caught. For such a claim, the league would be required to prove that the security breach harmed or damaged its business.
The NFL hack isn’t the first high-profile social media account hack of the week. Earlier on Sunday, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg had his Twitter and Pinterest accounts hacked.
The two incidents are notable for their timing, soon in the aftermath of the infamous LinkedIn password dump that was recently made public, following a breach from 2012.
Image credit: YouTube.
