NORAD, the agency that tracks missile threats to the US and Canada, just sent out a tweet welcoming the US Cyber Command to the big leagues. The US Cyber Command was elevated to a combatant command today, the country’s 10th, after previously working under the US Strategic Command since 2009.
Photo: US Army Cyber Command
But we have just one question: What the hell is going on with the US Cyber Command’s Twitter account? Here’s the tweet that NORAD sent out congratulating the command:
Welcome to the COCOM family little brother @USCommandCyber!!! 🎉 @DeptofDefense‘s newest Combatant Command. #WeHaveTheWatch
— U.S. Northern Command (@USNorthernCmd) May 4, 2018
If you click on @USCommandCyber, you’re taken to an account that looks legit — until you scroll down to its old tweets. The oldest tweet comes from November 23th, 2016 and has a strange syntax and punctuation.
https://twitter.com/USCommandCyber/status/801462436125609984
Or take this tweet, sent that same day:
https://twitter.com/USCommandCyber/status/801463679363465216
And here’s another strange tweet, which roughly translates to “liiiiies continued the same shit” in English:
https://twitter.com/USCommandCyber/status/801578134604775426
Then November 24, 2016 included this gem…
https://twitter.com/USCommandCyber/status/801896602088701953
…along with whatever this means:
https://twitter.com/USCommandCyber/status/801899129312083968
The most obvious answer would be that US Cyber Command was able to take control of an old handle created by someone outside of the military through Twitter’s help. But if that’s the case, why did they take “@USCommandCyber” instead of the more logical “@USCyberCommand”? @USCyberCommand, it should be noted, is not affiliated with the military and describes itself in its bio as a “fan of US Cyber Command.” It all seems just too weird.
Gizmodo has reached out to US Cyber Command to see what the hell is going on. Did they buy an old Twitter handle? Or is “Today is bigger black Friday” supposed to mean something?