Threat Management

Hacktivists take claim for defacement of Marines site

A hacker collective that has previously taken responsibility for a series of high-profile attacks, including those against The New York Times, now claims it defaced a Marine Corps recruiting website.

Early Monday morning, the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) redirected visitors of Marines.com to a message telling corps to ally with the Syrian army instead of taking orders from “traitor” President Obama.

The message also included photos of alleged troops in uniform who held signs in protest of U.S. involvement in the Syrian crisis.

“I didn't join the Marine Corps to fight for Al Qaeda in a Syrian civil war,” said one handwritten sign, covering a supposed Marines' face.  

The defacement occurred as the U.S. readies to strike Syria in light of President Assad's alleged use of chemical weapons against his own people.

By late Monday morning, the website was functioning normally again, but the Syrian Electronic Army posted a screen shot of part of the defacement via a Twitter account that day.

A Marine Corps statement emailed to SCMagazine.com on Tuesday said that site visitors were redirected “for a limited amount of hours overnight” and that no confidential or personal information was compromised in the incident. 

The Marine Corps did not confirm who was responsible for the defacement.

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