(Twitter)
Fox News said it is launching a "detailed investigation" after the network was the apparent victim of a Twitter hack.
On Monday, @foxnewspolitics, a verified Twitter feed operated by Fox News, posted a series of tweets claiming that President Barack Obama had been shot and killed in Iowa.
"@BarackObama has just passed," one of the first tweets read. "The President is dead. A sad 4th of July indeed. President Barack Obama is dead."
Another claimed Obama was "shot twice at a Ross' restaurant in Iowa while campaigning."
"We wish @joebiden the best of luck as our new President of the United States," a final tweet read. "In such a time of madness, there's light at the end of the tunnel."
The Twitter feed had about 30,000 followers at the time of the alleged hack.
"We will be requesting a detailed investigation from Twitter about how this occurred," Jeff Misenti, vice president and general manager of Fox News Digital, said in a statement, while also stressing that the network would take "measures to prevent future unauthorized access into FoxNews.com accounts."
"Hackers sent out several malicious and false tweets claiming that President Obama had been assassinated," Fox News said in a statement posted on its website. "Those reports were incorrect, of course, and the president was spending the July 4 holiday with his family at the White House."
George Ogilvie, spokesman for the Secret Service, said it is "investigating the matter and will be conducting appropriate follow-up."
The network has since removed the offending tweets from its feed.
According to AllTwitter.com, a Mediabistro-owned blog unaffiliated with Twitter Inc., a group calling itself "Scriptkiddies" claimed credit for the hack.
Fox News wasn't the only big media hacking victim over the weekend. The New York Times reports that a group of hackers "working closely" with LulzSec--the outfit that claimed responsibility for commandeering websites including PBS.org and others--said they had stolen personal data from an Apple server.
This attack, however, was small compared to others. The breach "contains 27 internal Apple usernames and passwords," the Times said.
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(Twitter)
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