Jeter targeted in gender bending Facebook hack
Derek Jeter #2 of the New York Yankees throws his bat after striking out to end the fourth-inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on July 17, 2012 in the Bronx borough of New York City.
Major League Baseball bore the brunt of an all-night hacking spree as seven baseball teams had their social media platforms hijacked by online pranksters.
The Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Miami Marlins, New York Yankees, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants and Washington Nationals all posted embarrassing messages on Facebook, including plans by Derek Jeter to undergo a sex change procedure.
“We regret to inform our fans that Derek Jeter will miss the rest of the season with sexual reassignment surgery. He promises to come back stronger than ever in 2013 as Minnie Mantlez,” said a hacked posting on the Yankees’ Facebook page.
Other posts featured political satire. The Chicago White Sox weighed in on the 2012 US presidential campaign, satirizing both candidates.
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“Everyone knows President Obama is a die hard ChiSox fan. Unfortunately, we’re voting for Romney. #MuslimPresident,” read a post on the White Sox Facebook page.
The San Francisco Giants managed to weigh in on the controversy surrounding Chick-Fil-A after the company’s president, Dan Cathy, expressed his distaste for same-sex marriage.
“Wow, the Chick-Fil-A guy sure is an asshole,” read the hacked posting on the Giants’ Facebook page.
Several of the teams released statements after the hacks, apologizing to fans and explaining that their social media platforms had been hijacked.
"For a brief moment today, a few MLB Club Facebook accounts were hacked and inappropriate material was briefly on display from those Clubs' pages on Facebook. MLB Advanced Media oversees these Facebook pages on behalf of the Clubs and regrets this occurrence," Major League Baseball said in a statement.
"We are working with Facebook, Major League Baseball Security and, where appropriate, legal authorities to determine the circumstances surrounding this situation," it added.
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The internet at large found the hacks harmless and amusing. Others were a bit nervous that Facebook had been so easily hacked by someone only looking to post a few jokes.
Facebook assures users, however, that the incident was isolated and the security faults had been eliminated.
”Recently, several Pages made unauthorized posts as a result of actions from a single rogue administrator of these Pages. Our team responded quickly and worked with our partners to eliminate the spam caused by this attack. This was an unique, isolated incident and we are always working to improve our systems to better protect our users and their data,” said a Facebook spokesperson to techcrunch.com.
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