After a series of random and simple messages with seemingly random letters, hackers that managed to hack and control UK's Metropolitan Police’s website and social media accounts, continued by posting a series of provocative messages.
Including one with "Fuck the police", and another with "Free Digga D".
According to the authority, the breach occurred via third-party software.
"Last night, Friday 19 July, unauthorized messages appeared on the news section of our website as well as on the @metpoliceuk Twitter feed and in emails sent to subscribers,” the police said in a statement.
"The Met Police Press Bureau uses an online provider called MyNewsDesk to issue news releases and other content," further explained the officials. “When a story is published via MyNewsDesk, it appears on the Met’s website and Twitter accounts and generates an email to those who’ve subscribed to receive our news updates."
While the police quickly regained control of its website and social media accounts, many Twitter users managed to take screenshots of them, and a cached version of the Digga D press release was already indexed by Google search engine.
"We apologize to our subscribers and followers for the messages they have received," the police said. "There has been no 'hack' of the Met Police's own IT infrastructure. We are assessing to establish what criminal offences have been committed."
The incident even caught U.S. President Donald Trump's attention, as he weighed in, reigniting his long-running war of words with London Mayor Sadiq Khan while retweeting an image of the hijacked Metropolitan Police account.
"With the incompetent Mayor of London, you will never have safe streets!" Trump tweeted.
With the incompetent Mayor of London, you will never have safe streets! https://t.co/pJqL1NjyvA
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 20, 2019
