We’re all about ribbing our elected officials, but it should come as no surprise that hackers took it several steps too far.
Tampa police say that detectives are working to determine the source of an early Thursday morning hack that filled Tampa Mayor Buckhorn’s Twitter account with X-rated images, plus racist and misogynistic messages. One even said that there was a bomb at Tampa International Airport.
"Looking forward to seeing some minorities die," the message said.
Tampa Police say there are no known credible threats, and airport officials said there is no evidence of a bomb.
"Airport Police are aware of hackers who made threats against the airport via the Tampa mayor’s twitter account,” the airport said in a message to its Twitter followers. “Police do not believe the threats are credible but are taking appropriate action to ensure the safety of TPA. Operations for passengers are normal at this time."
“Earlier this morning we noticed someone hacked Mayor Buckhorn’s Twitter account, this was clearly not Mayor Buckhorn,” spokesperson Ashley Bauman said in a statement, adding that that mayor is out of town.
“We will work with Tampa Police department as well as all investigators to figure out how this breach was made. We urge residents to change their passwords and continue to alert officials when they see an unlikely change in account activity. We are working with law enforcement to investigate all threats made by this hack.”
Buckhorn’s account — now listed as “Bob Cuckhorn” — has more than 52,000 followers.
As of Thursday morning, Buckhorn’s Twitter page is still obscene. We suggest staying away.
This article appears in Feb 21-28, 2019.