Asia-Pacific

Secret Service to probe hack on Fox News Twitter

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-07-05 06:19

WASHINGTON - The Secret Service said Monday it will investigate the hacking of Fox's political Twitter account over updates claiming that US President Barack Obama had been assassinated.

Secret Service spokesman George Ogilvie says the law enforcement agency whose job it is to protect the president will conduct a probe of the false postings and that "we will conduct the appropriate follow up."

Related readings:  Fox News hacker tweets Obama dead

Hackers broke into the FoxNewsPolitics account early Monday, leaving a series of six tweets reporting that Obama had been shot to death in Iowa and the shooter was unknown.

In a statement posted on its website, Fox News called the tweets "malicious" and "false."

"We will be requesting a detailed investigation from Twitter about how this occurred, and measures to prevent future unauthorized access into FoxNews.com accounts," said Jeff Misenti, vice president and general manager of Fox News Digital.

Obama is spending the Independence Day holiday at a barbecue at the White House with military families and administration staffers.

Fox's political Twitter account has more than 34,000 followers.