Northern Ireland Secretary’s Twitter account hacked
By Martina Bet, PA Political Staff
The Twitter account of Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has been hacked days after the Twitter profile of another British cabinet minister was altered.
On Monday morning, Mr Heaton-Harris’s account posted a spate of tweets, suggesting security had been compromised.
Some of the tweets included swear words and one a racial slur.
The Northern Ireland Secretary deleted the tweets and wrote on his account: “My Twitter account was hacked this morning, messages not posted by me have been deleted.”
However, the tweet disappeared shortly afterwards and his account posted a string of further tweets, which suggested security had once again been compromised.
I'm afraid my Twitter account was hacked overnight and someone posted some deeply unpleasant stuff on my account for which I can only apologise.
— Chris Heaton-Harris MP (@chhcalling) January 5, 2023
In one, the account said: “We are passing a new law soon, all transgenders and homosexuals will now serve 10 years behind bars.”
The tweet was posted twice as whoever appeared to hack into Mr Heaton-Harris’s account spelt “serve” as “server” the first time.
Eventually, the Northern Ireland Secretary appeared to get hold of his account, as the posts were deleted and he apologised in a new tweet.
He said: “I’m afraid my Twitter account was hacked overnight and someone posted some deeply unpleasant stuff on my account for which I can only apologise.”
Ms Heaton-Harris’s account being exposed comes just over a week after England's education secretary Gillian Keegan’s account fell victim to hackers.
