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An ISIS sympathizer going by the name CyberCaliphate took control of US Central Command's Twitter and YouTube accounts on Monday.

A hacker with a nearly identical signature hijacked the social-media accounts of the Albuquerque Journal and a local TV station in Maryland last week, a possible test run for Monday's far more ambitious act of internet vandalism.

The CENTCOM breach was an asymmetrical attack in the purest sense. It closed the gap between a weak and very limited actor and a much more powerful and numerous opponent.

As The Denver Post recounted after last week's breach of the Albuquerque Journal and a Salisbury, Maryland, TV station, CyberCaliphate couldn't even hack his way past the paywall of New Mexico's Mountain View Telegraph. But single hacker of apparently modest ability was still able to spread propaganda from social-media accounts associated with the commanders of the world's most powerful military.

The optics of it are terrible for the US and the broader effort against ISIS. And in the social-media sphere, optics can mutate into strategic gain. Indeed, the breach was a demonstration of what ISIS and its sympathizers are capable of, and a means of spreading their message even further.

"Nothing released was classified," Robert Caruso, a former Department of Defense special security officer, told Business Insider of documents that CyberCaliphate tweeted from CENTCOM's account: "Which is irrelevant, because they communicated threats to retired generals and admirals. It is a big deal."

Importantly, the attack was not aimed at government computer systems or against CENTCOM. CyberCaliphate chose a much easier target: social-media websites with fewer protections than official networks that are nevertheless used by significant components of the US national-security apparatus.

Twitter

"It's important to draw the distinction between what's called USCENTCOM being hacked and someone compromising the @CENTCOM Twitter account," said Caruso. "Whoever is responsible for this chose an asymmetric approach because they know the United States is still playing catchup in that arena."

Going after social media might show that while official networks are quite secure against anonymous, amateur hackers like CyberCaliphate, there will always be soft targets vulnerable to troublemakers.

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The CENTCOM Twitter Hack On Monday Is A Sign Of Things To Come