Irish police social media accounts hacked to promote cryptocurrency
What's the story
A number of social media accounts operated by An Garda Siochana, the national police service of Ireland, have been compromised. The hackers used the official handles to promote cryptocurrency. The @GardaTraffic and @GardaInfo X accounts removed their official branding and started posting about a cryptocurrency on Wednesday night, Irish broadcaster RTE reported.
Account manipulation
Location of the accounts changed to Amsterdam
Some posts from the hacked accounts have been marked with warnings, indicating their association with a different suspended profile. Further, the location of these accounts has been changed to Amsterdam.
The @GardaTraffic account, which has 600,000 followers and is usually used for traffic and road safety updates by An Garda Siochana, still claims to be the official Garda account as of Wednesday morning.
Information
Police service yet to comment on the matter
The @GardaInfo account, which has nearly 300,000 followers, doesn't show any biographical information. However, older posts from An Garda Siochana are still visible on the account. The police service is yet to comment on the matter after BBC News NI reached out for a statement.