Hackers took over the official Twitter account for Tesla Motors on Saturday in another demonstration of the relative ease with which cyber pranksters can tamper with corporations’ presence on social media.
The intruders began sending out false tweets around 4:50 p.m. EST on Saturday, according to reports. The messages offered followers free Tesla cars for calling a phone number that turned out to be fake.
{mosads}Tesla locked down the account within 10 minutes.
The hackers, who identified themselves as “ripprgang,” also appeared to take over the account of Tesla CEO Elon Musk for a brief period. The messages offered more free Teslas.
The motive for the cyberattack was unclear, though hackers often look for opportunities to gain publicity by highlighting a company’s security weaknesses.
It is also possible the hackers were seeking to annoy the person whose phone number was posted.
Tesla’s website was also taken over by a group that identified themselves as “autismsquad.”
It is increasingly common for corporations and government agencies to see their social media accounts compromised by pranksters.