The U.S. Secret Service, whose job is to protect the president, is reportedly investigating the recent hack on Fox News' Twitter account which falsely claimed that President Barack Obama had been assassinated.

The initial hack happened at 2.00am PST. The first tweet read, @BarackObama has just passed. The President is dead. A sad 4th of July, indeed. President Barack Obama is dead.

Followed by, @BarackObama has just passed. Nearly 45 minutes ago, he was shot twice in the lower pelvic area and in the neck; shooter unknown. Bled out.

Later ending with, We wish @joebiden the best of luck as our new President of the United States. In such a time of madness, there's light at the end of tunnel.

Fox News alerted the Secret Service about the hacking of the FoxNewsPolitics account early on Monday and requested a detailed investigation from Twitter into this situation.

In response to the attack the American Secret Service -- which is charged with protecting the President -- clarified to the press that it would be conducting an investigation. The Secret Service is investigating the matter and will conduct the appropriate follow-up, commented spokesman Georg Ogilvie.

The hackers who took responsibility for this was the Bill O'Reilly-decorated Twitter account @TheScriptKiddie (since suspended), which claims to be associated with Anonymous.

In an interview with Stony Brook University's Think Magazine (before the hacking happened), a member of the group said:

I would consider us to be close in relation [to Anonymous], 2 of the members of our group were members of Anonymous. I was a member of Anonymous. We hope to be working with them soon.

Regarding Fox News, the member said:

We are looking to find information about corporations to assist with antisec. Fox News was selected because we figured their security would be just as much of a joke as their reporting.

Who is next, then?

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