Bob Dylan, Sony Music Twitter Accounts Hacked, Falsely Tweet Death of Britney Spears
Sony Music Entertainment has caused a short frenzy early Monday morning when it sent a tweet that Britney Spears had died from its official Sony Music Global account.
"RIP @britneyspears," read the tweet shortly after 8am, which also had a frown-face emoji and the hashtag #RIPBritney. "1981-2016."
A second tweet then followed, "Britney spears is dead by accident! we will tell you more soon," again with the hashtag and frown emoji.
In a statement on the hack, Sony Music writes that its "account was compromised. This has been rectified. Sony Music apologizes to Britney Spears and her fans for any confusion."
Thirty minutes later a group called OurMine took responsibility. The Sony tweets had now been deleted.
The hacker group has frequently targeted high-profile accounts over the past year, including Marvel's Twitter accounts, as well as Netflix's Twitter account, in the same day last week. In September, the group gained access to Variety's website and email system, sending multiple messages to subscribers with the subject line "Hacked by #OurMine."
The group is ostensibly using the high-profile hacks as a way to market and promote its security services.
Recent Nobel prize winner singer-songwriter Bob Dylan was hacked as well after sending a tweet, that is now since deleted, that read "Rest in peace @britneyspears" with the same emoji. The account then shared Sony's tweet and mentioned OurMine in subsequent, also deleted, posts. A representative for Dylan confirmed to Billboard that Sony Music manages his account.
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