San Francisco: Twitter said Friday the account of chief executive Jack Dorsey had been “compromised” after a series of erratic and offensive messages were posted.

###

The tweets containing racial slurs and suggestions about a bomb showed up around 2000 GMT on the @jack account of the founder of the short messaging service before being deleted.

###

Some of the tweets contained the hashtag #ChucklingSquad, which was believed to indicate the identity of the hacker group. The same calling card was left behind during recent hacks of other high-profile social media personalities.

###

The messages contained racial epithets, and included a retweet of a message supporting Nazi Germany.

###

Twitter said that the phone number associated with Dorsey’s account was “compromised due to a security oversight by the mobile provider,” allowing a hacker to posts tweets to @jack by sending text messages.

###

Dorsey’s account has been secured and there was “no indication that Twitter’s systems have been compromised,” according to the San Francisco-based internet firm.

###

It appeared that tweets posted on Dorsey’s account by the hacker were up for about a half-hour before they were removed.

###

Pinned atop Dorsey’s account was a tweet from early last year saying: “We’re committing Twitter to help increase the collective health, openness, and civility of public conversation, and to hold ourselves publicly accountable towards progress.”

###

A barrage of comments fired off on the platform questioned why the Twitter co-founder didn’t secure his account better, and how disturbing a sign it was that the service couldn’t keep its own chief safe on the platform.

###

“If you can’t protect Jack, you can’t protect… jack,” one Twitter user quipped.

###

The news comes with Dorsey and Twitter moving aggressively to clean up offensive and inappropriate content as part of a focus on “safety.”

###

“This might be the only way to get rid of racist tweets on this platform,” a Twitter user commented.

###

What happened?

###

British-based security consultant Graham Cluley said the incident highlighted the importance of two-factor authentication, where a user must confirm the account via an external service.

###

Cluley advised people to make sure they use two-factor authentication and check which applications are linked to their accounts.

###

“While it looks bad, it’s important to remember this is not some state-grade hack,” said R. David Edelman, director of technology, economy, and national security project at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

###

“It’s fundamentally an act of petty vandalism; the equivalent of spray painting a billboard above Twitter HQ.”

Click Here: Golf special###

Cybersecurity researcher Kevin Beaumont said the account appeared to have been hijacked “via a third party called Cloudhopper, which Twitter acquired about 10 years ago and had access to his account.”

###

Cloudhopper enables users to send tweets on their phones via SMS.

###

“While it’s tempting to laugh at the irony of it, the real-world consequences don’t make it funny,” University of Hartford communications professor Adam Chiara said of Dorsey’s account being hacked.

###

“Twitter can tell us that they are becoming more diligent with our privacy and security, but actions speak louder than words.”

###

The incident raised fresh concerns about how social media users – even prominent ones – can have their accounts compromised and used for misinformation, a point highlighted by Canadian member of parliament Michelle Rempel Garner.

###

“Between bots, trolls and abuse, I’ve been skeptical about @Twitter as a viable platform for some time now,” Rempel Garner wrote.

###

“But the fact it took the platform’s owner (@jack) about 30 min to get his hacked account under control is deeply problematic, and makes me worry as an elected official.”

###

Sign up for the Business Brief###

Sign up for the Business Brief