Representatives claim that ‘steps were taken quickly to secure account’ after Commons leader and Labour member for Manchester Central appeared to issue posts in support of a fictional digital coin
Government minister Lucy Powell’s official X account has been hacked and used to promote a fake “House of Commons” cryptocurrency.
Earlier this week the account of the leader of the House of Commons (pictured above) posted a tweet – now deleted – to promote a digital coin described as “$HCC”.
The post on X – still known to many as Twitter – claimed that the coin was “a community-driven digital currency bringing people’s power to the blockchain”. The tweet, which featured the House of Commons Logo, continued: “Transparency. Participation. Trust”.
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Powell’s feed was later filled with a string of posts – all of which have now been deleted – that provided contact details and stated that the coin was live. It is not known who was behind the hack.
This is the latest of a string of social media hacks targeting high-profile figures. In January, BBC journalist Laura Kuenssberg’s X account was hacked to promote a fake BBC cryptocurrency. And a month later her colleague Nick Robinson, who co-presents Radio 4’s Today programme, had his X account hacked, with the impersonator tweeting Robinson was launching a cryptocurrency called “$Today”.
A spokesperson for the minister said: “Lucy Powell’s personal X account was hacked [yesterday] morning. Steps were taken quickly to secure the account and remove misleading posts.”
A House of Commons spokesperson added: “UK Parliament takes cyber security extremely seriously. We provide advice to users – including members – to make them aware of the risks and how to manage their digital safety, however we do not comment on specific details of our cyber security policies”.
A version of this story originally appeared on PublicTechnology sister publication Holyrood
