Update, April 18 7:25 p.m.: Our long national nightmare is finally over: @OnwardState is back on Twitter dot com.

It took countless emails and mentions to @Twitter and @Support (many of which went unanswered) and help from our incredibly amazing alumni, but the account is back and all of the tweets are just where we left them. From the moment the account was compromised last Thursday evening, we have been working to resecure it, and we’re thrilled to say that we finally have it back, thanks in large part to all of those who helped in whatever way they could.

Thank you, as always, to all of you who follow along with Onward State, in any capacity and on any platform. We started as an experiment eight-and-a-half years ago and are humbled every day by the fact that you take the time to read and follow.

Original Story

At around 5:07 p.m. on Wednesday, April 13, Onward State’s main Twitter account was hacked into oblivion. What began with an odd email notification that @OnwardState was logged into from a new device quickly turned into the OS editors shitting their pants.

For a better timeline of yesterday’s events, here’s my Fitbit heart rate chart:

Less than a minute after the suspicious login notification, the Onward State Twitter was already compromised. The hacker was able to circumvent Onward State’s Reinhold Diceware generated password thanks to Twitter’s far-from-par security standards. The associated email addresses, phone numbers, and password were instantaneously changed, locking the editors out of the account. The result was this:

At this point there was nothing we could do but look on from afar…

.@OnwardState https://t.co/9X65wF6ABx

— THONward State (@THONwardState) April 13, 2017

While we have not been able to identify the source or identity of the hacker (that was possibly for hire…?), fellow Tweeters have made speculations of their own.

we have tracked the onward state twitter account’s hacker’s location, and we believe that it is the work of ugandan warlord joseph kony

— Bris Bristofferson (@killakow) April 14, 2017

Russian hackers. @onwardstate #MAGA #Trump #PSU pic.twitter.com/7FQwab0ys8

— Penn State Bull-Moose Party (@PennStateBMP) April 14, 2017

We will continue to work with Twitter Support to restore our account from the Ugandan/Russian/Daily Collegian hackers. But until then, follow our sub-blog Twitter accounts: Onward State Sports, THONward State, and the Onward State Feed.

Through all of these extraordinary happenings on Twitter dot com, we’d just like to say thanks for following along!

I wouldn't even know if the daily collegian twitter was toast because I don't follow them (onward state is better)

— Joe Patoasterno (@PSUtoaster) April 14, 2017