Facebook’s Twitter and Instagram accounts hacked by Saudi hacking group OurMine

Facebook’s Twitter and Instagram accounts were hacked Friday, by a Saudi-based hacking group that has been active in exposing vulnerabilities among high-profile social media users. The group, OurMine, claimed responsibility for the takeover. On its website, OurMine describes its team as being “known for many hacks showing vulnerabilities in major systems.”

The hacking group tweeted out a message on Facebook’s account that pointed the social network’s 13.4 million followers to its website. “Hi, we are O u r M i n e. Well, even Facebook is hackable but at least their security better than Twitter. to improve your accounts security Contact us: contact@o u r m i n e .org For security services visit: o u r m i n e. org,” the tweet said, according to a screenshot circulated online.

The official Twitter account @Facebook and that of its messaging app, @Messenger, posted identical messages shortly before 7 p.m. Friday evening saying, “Hi, we are O u r M i n e. Well, even Facebook is hackable but at least their security better than Twitter.”

Matt Navarra, a social media industry commentator, tweeted the screenshots immediately after the hack.

Facebook and Messenger accounts on Twitter both hacked … ouch! pic.twitter.com/YHHk44jg7p

— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) February 7, 2020

A Twitter spokesperson confirmed to POLITICO the accounts “were hacked through a third-party platform.” “As soon as we were made aware of the issue, we locked the compromised accounts and are working closely with our partners at Facebook to restore them,” the spokesperson added. The tweet was quickly taken down. Facebook later tweeted that it had regained control of the account.

Some of our corporate social accounts were briefly hacked but we have secured and restored access

— Meta (@Meta) February 8, 2020

In addition to the tweet, OurMine posted its logo multiple times on both Facebook and Messenger’s Instagram accounts. The tweet has since been deleted, as were the posts on both Facebook and Messenger’s Instagram accounts. Facebook responded to the hacking on Twitter writing, “Some of our corporate social accounts were briefly hacked but we have secured and restored access.”

This is not first time OurMine has hacked into the social media accounts of prominent companies. On Jan. 27, before the Super Bowl, the hacking group claimed responsibility for hijacking the Twitter accounts of the National Football League and several of its teams. The victims included the Super Bowl winner, Kansas City Chiefs.