Twitter Bomb Threat Diverts John Smedley's Plane
- By Ginger Hill
- Aug 25, 2014
Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley took off on his American Airlines flight from Dallas, Texas bound for San Diego earlier today, only to land in Phoenix due to a Twitter bomb threat.
Supposedly, a group of hackers claiming responsibility for the PlayStation Network downtime posted the threat directly to the flight operator indicating that Flight 362 from Dallas to San Diego had explosives on board. Tweets directly to Smedley followed, showing two planes crashing into the World Trade Center and #PrayForFlight360. Earlier tweets appeared to be an image of an e-ticket for the flight and suggested an affiliation with ISIS and Anonymous. Smedley has responded on Twitter. 
Motivations of the hackers haven’t been made clear, although the group did claim responsibility for the denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on Sony’s PlayStation Network. A Sony representative confirmed that none of their user’s personal data has been compromised.
The FBI is investigating the flight’s diversion while the Bureau has not commented on the incident.
(Slideshow image: Chris Parypa Photography / Shutterstock.com
About the Author
Ginger Hill is Group Social Media Manager.