The Twitter and YouTube accounts of the U.S. Central Command were hacked by a group claiming to be affiliated with ISIS, as U.S. President Barack Obama proposed strengthening cybersecurity laws Monday afternoon.

In a brief statement, the command unit confirmed that the accounts had been compromised. "We are taking appropriate measures to address the matter,” the statement said.

A series of tweets issuing threats to U.S. soldiers were posted Monday by a group calling itself the CyberCaliphate.

The first of the tweets read: "American soldiers, we are coming, watch your back. ISIS #CyberCaliphate."

Other tweets listed what appeared to be the names and phone numbers of members of the U.S. army.

The account was suspended about 40 minutes after the first of the tweets was posted. The Pentagon said it appears that no classified material was breached.

U.S. Central Command is a command unit of the U.S. military. Its central area of responsibility includes the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia.

The command unit's YouTube account also appeared to have been hacked, as two propaganda videos were uploaded Monday afternoon. That account was also suspended.

After the accounts were suspended, Central Command downplayed the attack as cyber-vandalism and mischief, saying its military networks were not compromised.

“There’s a pretty big difference, a significant difference, between what is a large data breach and the hacking of a Twitter account,” said White House spokesperson Josh Earnest.

The hacks occurred minutes after Obama unveiled new measures to increase cybersecurity for consumers at the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C.

Citing the recent cyberattack on Sony, the U.S. president said that today's latest technology has created vulnerabilities for the U.S. He proposed strengthening existing laws to protect consumers against data breaches.

With files from The Associated Press and a report from CTV’s Washington Bureau Chief Paul Workman