A hacker group broke into the NBC News Twitter account Friday, sending a series of tweets about a terror attack on Ground Zero to the news outlet’s 129,000 followers.
“Flight 4782 is not responding, suspected hijacking. One plane just hit Ground Zero site at 5:47. #groundzeroattacked,” the account wrote.
“This is not a joke, Ground Zero has just been attacked,” the account tweeted. “We’re attempting to get reporters on the scene.”
No such terror attack happened at Ground Zero in Manhattan Friday evening. A group calling themselves “The Script Kiddies” claimed responsibility for the hack, advertising its own Twitter account, which was suspended immediately after the incident.
NBC News released a statement Friday condemning the act as “reckless and irresponsible,” and apologizing for the scare it may have caused anyone.
“The NBC News twitter account was hacked late this afternoon and as a result, false reports of a plane attack on ground zero were sent to @NBCNews followers,” the statement read.
“We are working with Twitter to correct the situation and sincerely apologize for the scare that could have been caused by such a reckless and irresponsible act.”
The NBC News account, which was also suspended about 20 minutes after the initial hack, is a Twitter-verified account, and a large news presence on Twitter.
MSNBC reporters Luke Russert and Chuck Todd and other NBC employees quickly told their followers about the hack, warning them not to believe or retweet the messages.
