DHAKA: The Syrian Electronic Army, an amorphous hacker collective that supports Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, claimed credit for hacking into the social media accounts of internet calling service Skype.

The group also posted the contact information of Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s retiring chief executive, on its Twitter account along with the message, ‘You can thank Microsoft for monitoring your accounts/emails using this details. #SEA’.

That message was an apparent reference to revelations last year by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden that Skype, which is owned by Microsoft, was part of the NSA’s programme to monitor communications through some of the biggest US internet companies.

A message posted on Skype’s official Twitter feed, apparently by the hacking group, read, ‘Don’t use Microsoft emails (hotmail, outlook), They are monitoring your accounts and selling the data to the governments. More details soon. #SEA’

Similar messages were posted on Skype’s official Facebook pages and on a blog on its website before being taken down in late afternoon. The SEA later tweeted out copies of the message ‘for those who missed it’.

Representatives for Microsoft could not be reached for comment, reports The Times of India.

BDST: 1530 HRS, JAN 02, 2014
Edited by Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor