El Paisano vol54 issue 6

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EL

PAISANO RIO HONDO COLLEGE NEWSPAPER est. 1964 Serving the Rio Hondo Community

Tuesday, March 21 2017

Volume 54 Issue 6

Twitter Accounts Hacked to Spread Pro-Erdoğan Message and Swastikas

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY DIEGO CRESPO DANIELLE ANZURES Reporter

danielle.anzures8473@my.riohondo.edu

Hundreds, possibly thousands, of Twitter users had their accounts hacked March 15 for a pro-Turkey operation, as reported by The Verge. The hacked accounts, many

of which were either verified or high-profile users, have the same message written in a Turkish language with the hashtags #Nazialmanya and #Nazihollanda which translate to #NaziGermany and #NaziHolland, after the hashtags a text reads: “This

gives you a little #OttomanSlap,” and makes reference to April 16, when Turkey will hold a public vote on constitutional changes that would strengthen President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s power and could allow him to remain in office through 2029. The tweets also included a link for pro-Erdoğan video and some accounts had their background images changed to a Turkish flag. As of now it is not known how many accounts were hacked, among the accounts hacked were Forbes and actress Sarah Shahi as according to engadget. Some other accounts hacked were Duke University, Amnesty International, and Rio Hondo College. Rio Hondo has taken precautionary measures to avoid any subsequent hacks. The tweets have since been taken down. The attack comes amid

what could be considered a high pressured time between Turkey and the Netherlands after Erdoğan high level diplomatic ties refused to allow Ankara’s Dutch ambassador to return to Turkey as reported by The Huffington Post. At this time it is not known who lead the Twitter hacking, but it is thought by users that the attack is linked to Twitter Counter, a analytics application based in the Netherlands, that was involved in an attack during November 2016. The attack caused some high-profile accounts to tweet out spam according to The Verge. Omer Ginor,Twitter Counter spokesperson, in an email to The Verge said that the company does not store account information, like passwords, or credit card information. “We are aware of the situation and have started an

investigation into the matter,” Omer in the email said, “Before any definite findings, we’ve already taken measures to contain such abuse of our users’ accounts, assuming it is indeed done using our system — both blocking all ability to post tweets using our system and changing our Twitter app key.” UNICEF USA, one of the accounts hacked, issued a statement March 15 in response to the hack, “We can confirm that our Twitter account was hacked. UNICEF USA is deeply concerned that our social media platforms would be used to promote hate speech. The offensive tweet has been removed. We are investigating the matter and working to ensure it does not happen again,” according to The Huffington Post.

FBI Director Admits to Investigation of Russian Interference, Colluding With Trump Administration ANGELO TORRES Reporter

angelo.torres2983@my.riohondo.edu

FBI Director James Comey confirmed rumors of investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election during a testimony before the House of Intelligence Committee the morning of March 20. Russian interference has been a major point of discussion since the conclusion of the 2016 presidential election. The Trump administration’s relationship with the Russian government and questions about Russian interference has created concern, both by Trump’s opponent and outspoken Republicans. “I have been authorized by the Department of Justice to confirm that the FBI, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigat-

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ing the Russian government efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election,” Comey said in his statement Monday morning. Comey also added that the investigation is an open and ongoing endeavor by the FBI, and until the investigation concludes, the information collected thus far is classified to the public. The leaders of congress and of the HIC will be briefed in detail on the investigation in private, in a classified setting. While the information is as of yet unknown to the public, the nature of the investigation includes an assessment of the actions taken by Trump’s campaign to determine if any crimes were committed by the administration. “[This investigation] includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the

Russian government, and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia’s efforts.” President Trump took to his personal Twitter account before Comey’s testimony, alleging and asking for equal representation of his opponent’s colluding with the Russian government. “What about all of the contact with the Clinton campaign and the Russians? Also, is it true that the DNC would not let the FBI [investigate],” the president asked on the social media site. While Trump used Twitter to rebut the claims he expected Comey’s to make in his testimony, during the testimony, Comey also denied any credibility to President Trump’s claims of wiretapping by the Obama administration, claims he made the morning of March 4 on Twitter.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY NOAH GARCIA

WHAT’S INSIDE

News.................................................................................. Page 2 Science & Technology....................................................... Page 5 Lifestyles........................................................................... Page 7 Arts & Entertainment....................................................... Page 8 Opinion........................................................................... Page 10 Sports.............................................................................. Page 11 Calendar.......................................................................... Page 12

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