A shocking tweet came out of Sony Music Global's Twitter account (@SonyMusicGlobal) on December 26 at 8:20 am. It said the singer Britney Spears died in an accident, with the hashtag #RIPBritney.
The message, which was retweeted thousands of times, was apparently posted by a hacker that broke into Sony Music Global's Twitter account, CBS News reports. Several minutes later, the account posted that it saw a new IP address logged in when the first strange tweet was sent.
"so @britneyspears is still alive #OurMine," the tweet said. The hashtag refers to the group that previously hacked the accounts of famous brands such as Netflix and Marvel, as well as personalities like Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Yahoo's Marissa Mayer.
When contacted by CBS News, OurMine did not claim responsibility for posting the first tweet about Britney Spears. It said, however, that it hacked Sony Music's account after noticing that tweet, and admitted to posting subsequent tweets. The tweets have all been deleted.
OurMine describes itself as a neutral organization that only wants to alert high-profile individuals and institutions about weaknesses in their internet security. It says it has no ill intentions and cares about the security and privacy of the accounts it hacks.
In a statement, Sony said sorry to Britney Spears' fans "for any confusion," Reuters reports. Sony admitted its social media account was hacked but that the problem has been addressed.
Spears's manager Adam Leber also told CNN that the singer is "fine and well." Leber said there have been instances in the past of "internet clowns" spreading rumors that Spears is dead, but never from Sony Music's Twitter account.
It's not the first time for Sony to be a victim of cyber-attacks. In 2014, Sony Pictures Entertainment's computer system was hacked ahead of the release of the movie "The Interview," which lampooned North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The FBI concluded that the hacking, which resulted in the leak of company e-mails, was the work of the North Korean government.
