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DETROIT, Michigan - Jeep's Twitter account was reportedly hacked in February 2013. The hacker posted fake tweets suggesting that the automaker was being sold to Cadillac and that it was suspending factory production.
The move was similar to an incident involving the Burger King restaurant chain. A spokesperson for the Chrysler Group LLC, said he had no idea if the two cases were linked, although he said the visuals looked similar.
Hackers took control of the account on February 19 2013, posting that the Jeep brand had been sold to General Motors' Cadillac because employees had been caught "doing this", refering to a image of a man holding a bottle of pills.
JEEP TWEETS TRENDING
The hacker also tweeted that Jeep production had been halted.
The false tweets took place for an hour before Chrysler's social media agency was able to regain control of the account with help from Twitter.
Chrysler spokesman Ed Garsten said the false messages were deleted from the account.
The agency, Ignite Social Media of Birmingham, in Detroit, Michigan spotted the misdeeds quickly and worked to wrest control of the account from the hacker.
Garsten said he has no idea who hacked into the account and he believes Chrysler would take steps to guard against future attacks.
Garsten said: "I can only imagine that they're taking a look at it."
Jeep uses Twitter to promote its vehicles and parts, or to spotlight its customers. Garsten said he didn't think the incident hurt the Jeep brand because most people realised it was a hacking incident.
Garsten said: "I guess I see that Jeep was trending during that time," he said.
Burger King's Twitter account went through a similar takeover on February 18 2013, as hackers posted obscene messages and changed its profile picture to a McDonald's logo.
The move was similar to an incident involving the Burger King restaurant chain. A spokesperson for the Chrysler Group LLC, said he had no idea if the two cases were linked, although he said the visuals looked similar.
Hackers took control of the account on February 19 2013, posting that the Jeep brand had been sold to General Motors' Cadillac because employees had been caught "doing this", refering to a image of a man holding a bottle of pills.
JEEP TWEETS TRENDING
The hacker also tweeted that Jeep production had been halted.
The false tweets took place for an hour before Chrysler's social media agency was able to regain control of the account with help from Twitter.
Chrysler spokesman Ed Garsten said the false messages were deleted from the account.
The agency, Ignite Social Media of Birmingham, in Detroit, Michigan spotted the misdeeds quickly and worked to wrest control of the account from the hacker.
Garsten said he has no idea who hacked into the account and he believes Chrysler would take steps to guard against future attacks.
Garsten said: "I can only imagine that they're taking a look at it."
Jeep uses Twitter to promote its vehicles and parts, or to spotlight its customers. Garsten said he didn't think the incident hurt the Jeep brand because most people realised it was a hacking incident.
Garsten said: "I guess I see that Jeep was trending during that time," he said.
Burger King's Twitter account went through a similar takeover on February 18 2013, as hackers posted obscene messages and changed its profile picture to a McDonald's logo.
