Carlton and United Breweries' corporate affairs Twitter account has been hit by hackers over the weekend, sending out links to malicious software.
On Saturday the @CUB_CorpAffairs account posted spam messages including ‘The fastest way to lose body fat in 2 weeks’, and sent direct messages to followers which contained links to viruses.
It is its first activity since the August 31, when a link to the Beer Chase advert was posted, and the posts had not been deleted as of am today.
The gaff is the latest in a line of social media blunders by Australian brands.
Last week Just Jeans was caught out by a hoaxer posting responses to customers comments on Facebook, telling one woman she had been banned from stores for being rude.
Chris Bridgland, accounts director at digital agency We Are Social, told B&T that incident highlighted the need for brands to take control of their social media presence.
He said: “If you are not controlling the conversation and reacting to online conversations then you are really missing out on an opportunity to develop your brand online. Brands need to have full-time social media teams. There needs to be a level of consistent management.”
CUB’s blunder is particularly embarrassing as it is the Twitter account used by the press officers, and has a following mainly comprising media outlets.
A statement from CUB today apologised for the problem, and said they are looking into how it happened.
