Oh dear. It seems that Reuters have lots to learn about security if they’re going to be taken seriously in future…

The news agency has been left reeling after being hacked not once, but twice in the space of 24 hours, apparently by pro-Bashar Assad propagandists who posted a number of fake stories in support of the incumbent regime in that embattled country.

Last Friday, it was revealed by several sources that Reuters ‘blogging platform’ had been illegally hacked, with RT News displaying screenshots that showed at least three fake stories had been posted onto the agency’s website. Following this embarrassment for Reuters, presumably the same hackers were responsible for hijacking Reuters’ Twitter account, and blasting out more pro-Assad propaganda under the agency’s ‘stamp of approval’, before the breach was noticed.

Among the fake posts that popped up on Reuters blog, was one that quoted a Free Syrian Army (FSA) commander as saying that “rebel forces were withdrawing from Syrian cities after its forces had suffered over 1,000 casualties”. In addition, the ‘commander’ said that the rebels had been beset by “betrayals and infighting over money and positions”.

The fake posts then became even more outrageous, as Reuters ‘reported’ that the FSA were smuggling in “chemical weapons previously owned by Colonel Gadaffi”, which they had apparently bought from Libyan rebels.

It seems that Reuters didn’t take long to realize their blog had been hijacked, and they responded by taking it offline until the breach could be fixed. So imagine their embarrassment when just hours later, their Twitter account started spouting off more outrageous loyalist propaganda?

@ReutersTECH has since been suspended, but the following screenshot displays a number of deceptive tweets that have no doubt humiliated the news agency’s bosses.

Many of the claims are quite absurd again, with FSA ‘admissions’ of 2,200 rebel fighters being killed, and even more ludicrous tweets that “Clinton vows to make Egyptians pay a heavy price for chants mentioning Monica”, and “Obama releases classified info that shows the US never stopped funding Al Qaeda since the 1980s”. At least they have a sense of humor…

Reuters later posted their own brief report on the hacks, in which they claimed they had no idea who was responsible for them.