TAMPA, Fla. — Police continue to investigate an overnight hack that targeted the mayor of Tampa.
- Tampa mayor's Twitter account hacked
- Feed filled with disturbing images and threats
- Tampa police investigating
Mayor Bob Buckhorn's twitter account was hacked early Thursday, filling his feed with disturbing and even threatening tweets - one after the other.
Most of the tweets have been extremely vulgar. Police said the threats were not credible.
The mayor's office regained control of the account around 9 a.m.
The mayor's twitter account hack started at 3:48 a.m. Most of the tweets sent can't be shown, including racist tweets and images of child porn.
The mayor's twitter name was changed to a porn name – Tampa police officials say they have not seen anything like this before.
Police are investigating.
This tweet was sent in the 4 a.m. hour:
"Emergency alert – ballistic missile threat inbound to Tampa bay area. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill…."
In another tweet, the hacker encourages shootings at the VA Hospital in Tampa. The hacker has even posted a threat to Tampa International Airport, which has led to heightened security there.
Tampa Airport officials said they were aware of the tweets and "there are no changes at security checkpoints right now."
Sifting through the tweets, one of the twitter user tagged, said this:
"Although I do not know much of the actual hacking methods I know what they do after hacking the account," the tagged user messaged back. "Twitters support system has had an exploit for years and they are yet to fix it.
"Since it is a verified account reporting a normal account for impersonation, twitter support obviously sides with the verified account and suspends the normal account."
Here's what that means: It may mean Buckhorn is not the actual target of this hack, but the users that are being tagged in the tweets.
The Tampa police criminal investigations bureau is investigating the case. It also appears this particular hacker has been on an FBI watch list for some time.
Spectrum Bay News 9 has not confirmed the mayor's account password has been changed - that’s likely the case though - and that means until twitter shuts the hack or account of the Mayor down - the city has no access to control what is going out.
The mayor's office responded to the hack Thursday morning:
"Earlier this morning we noticed someone hacked Mayor Buckhorn's twitter account, this was clearly not Mayor Buckhorn. Upon noticing the hack we immediately began investigating these reprehensible tweets.
"We are working with the Tampa Police Department as well as all investigators to figure out how this breach was made. We urge residents to change their passwords and continue to alert officials when they see an unlikely change in account activity. We are continuing to work with law enforcement to investigate all threats made by this hack."