While Gillian Keegan’s page still identifies her as the member of parliament for Chichester and secretary of state for education, and the banner graphic highlighting her local constituency work remains intact, the page has otherwise degenerated into disarray.
The education secretary of the United Kingdom’s Twitter account appears to have been compromised, with its profile photo changed to an image of Elon Musk and many messages supporting a cryptocurrency originally backed by the billionaire.
While Gillian Keegan’s profile still identifies her as the member of parliament for Chichester and secretary of state for education, and the banner image highlighting her constituency work has been preserved, the page has otherwise degenerated into disarray.
The account has replied to a large number of tweets to promote a phony event organized by Musk’s firms Twitter and Tesla, stating there will be “a special prize for all our followers and the crypto community.”
The link’s tagline is “Elon Musk – FREE DOGE, BTC, and More!”
This relates to Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency that was created as a joke in 2013, but whose value once increased by more than 18,000% due to Musk’s admiration.
Other tweets allude to cryptocurrency owners as “Dogecoin warriors battling for the future.”
Based on the tweets, it appears that Ms. Keegan’s account was hacked on Christmas Day at approximately 7:30 p.m.
Keegan is not the first victim of a Twitter hack.
It is not the first time this year that prominent accounts have been hacked and swamped with crypto spam and photographs of Elon Musk; the British Army was also victimized.
Since completing his $44 billion (£38 billion) purchase in October, Musk has expressed his intention to crack down on spam, bots, and other harmful or fraudulent content.
However, the company’s massive layoffs have generated concerns that it would lack the necessary personnel.
The exposure of Ms. Keegan’s account comes barely two months after the former prime minister and foreign secretary Liz Truss’s phone was purportedly hacked by Russia.
During the summer Tory leadership contest, agents suspected of working for Russian President Vladimir Putin hacked her phone, getting access to details of negotiations with key international allies.
Michael Gove, secretary for Leveling Up, emphasized that the government takes such security concerns “very seriously.”
And it was revealed last year that both Boris Johnson’s and Dominic Raab’s mobile phone numbers had been listed online for numerous years.
In all instances, the figures were accessible to the public for much over a decade.
