Burger King takes down Twitter account after hack attack

Customers queue up on the opening day of the Burger King restaurant at the Marignane airport hall December 22, 2012.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hackers breached the Twitter account of fast-food chain Burger King, posting the online equivalent of graffiti and sometimes making little sense.

Burger King Worldwide Inc (BKW.N) suspended its Twitter account about an hour after it learned of the attack at 12:24 p.m. EST (1724 GMT) on Monday, company spokesman Bryson Thornton said in an email.

"It has come to our attention that the Twitter account of the BURGER KING brand has been hacked," the company said in a statement. "We have worked directly with administrators to suspend the account until we are able to re-establish our legitimate site and authentic postings."

Several tweets carried the logo of Burger King's larger rival McDonald's (MCD.N), but spelled the latter company's name incorrectly. Others sought to tarnish Burger King, the third-largest U.S. hamburger chain, and its employees.

"Just got sold to McDonalds," one tweet said, adding "FREDOM IS FAILURE".

(Reporting by Ilaina Jonas; Editing by Dale Hudson)