Twitter account of French newspaper ‘Le Monde’ hacked

The Syrian Electronic Army claimed responsibility Tuesday night for hacking the Twitter account of French newspaper “Le Monde.”

The hacker group, which supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, took over the newspaper’s account around 7 p.m. EST, with one of their tweets, emblazoned with SEA logo, mentioning the Charlie Hebdo attacks from earlier this month.

We have successfully hacked Le Monde and we will never fail to deliver our message of peace and anti-terrorism. #SEA pic.twitter.com/Mw3eS4xvqO

— SyrianElectronicArmy (@Official_SEA16) January 21, 2015

The newspaper’s account was suspended and restored within a matter of hours. Le Monde said on its website, Reuters reported, that the hackers had “managed to infiltrate our publishing tool before launching a denial of service.”

Après le piratage de notre compte, nos équipes ont désormais repris la main. Nos excuses pour les messages frauduleux postés en notre nom.

— Le Monde (@lemondefr) January 21, 2015

The SEA has consistently targeted several news organization websites and Twitter accounts, including those of The New York Times, BBC, Reuters, the Los Angeles Times, among others.

The hacking incident occurred right before President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, which highlighted concerns surrounding the “evolving threat of cyber attacks,” following the recent takeover of the military’s U.S. Central Command’s social media accounts.

“No foreign nation, no hacker, should be able to shut down our networks, steal our trade secrets, or invade the privacy of American families, especially our kids,” the president said in his speech.