Fast food giant Burger King has become the latest high-profile victim of Twitter hacking with the company’s official social networking page given a McDonalds themed makeover.
With hackers gaining access to the official Burger King Twitter feed last night, Monday February 18, the uninvited intruders proceeded to Tweet that the company had been sold to bitter rival McDonalds.
Adding further salt to the wounds, the hackers went on to change the page’s picture to the McDonalds golden arches logo, with the cover photo becoming a snap of McDonalds meals. Completing the job, the hackers altered the Burger King biography page, stating the company has been “sold to McDonalds after the whopper flopped.” The location was moved to “in a hood near you.”
The latest in a recent flurry of high-profile Twitter hacks that have surfaced in just a number of weeks, the Burger King attack comes days after BlackBerry’s newly appointed Creative Director, Alicia Keys, reportedly saw her Twitter page hacked when a message appeared on her feed accompanied by the tag “Tweeted from my iPhone.”
“If these types of exploits continue to happen on such a regular basis, it would be a safe bet to assume that big brands will lose trust in Twitter,” Sam Garrity, Director of digital marketing agency RocketMill said. “Only a couple of weeks ago 250,000 Twitter accounts were hacked and now this. The social network’s reputation is increasingly on the line.”
Suggesting that trust in Twitter is now finely in the balance, Garrity added: “As a matter of priority, Twitter must roll out two-factor authentication in order to regain some level of trust and prove that its ecosystem is secure. Twitter should follow in the footsteps of Facebook and Google in putting together competitions and reward schemes, allowing hackers to find vulnerabilities in its platform.”
Despite the troublesome intrusion, the unlawful attacks could end up benefitting the company, with Burger King’s Twitter following jumping from a lacklustre 83,000 followers to a more impressive 111,351 at the time of writing.
“Play it right and Burger King could turn this huge spike in exposure into a highly potent PR opportunity,” Garrity said. “They just need to get a few creative minds in a room and work a way around it.”
“Interesting day here at Burger King, but we’re back! Welcome to our new followers. Hope you all stick around!” Burger King spokespeople Tweeted once the company’s page had been reclaimed.
Have you lost your trust in Twitter’s security measures or are you still happy using the micro-blogging service? Let us know your thoughts on the matter via the TrustedReviews Twitter and Facebook feeds or through the comment boxes below.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
