BBC journalist Nick Robinson says his X account was hacked and used to promote cryptocurrency after targeting online phishing scams.
Today’s programme presenter was locked up from X’s account, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday night after clicking on a link in an email he mistakenly believed to have been sent to him by a social media platform.
Robinson, 61, said he was still locked out of his account on Tuesday after his password was changed.
Cybersecurity experts said such attacks are likely to be opportunistic. This said it was a code, not a human being looking for social media users who have many followers, to abuse them.
The email sent to Robinson is designed to make it appear legal and includes a link that allows him to review content that he claims is in violation of X’s policy. Stop his account from being suspended.
However, the email address that sent the email did not end with the “@x.com” or “@excom” address used by the platform for official communications.
Following today’s program on Tuesday, Robinson said he fell into a scam despite completing an online security course highlighting signs of a phishing email tail.
He said: “Why? Because my defenses went down – I was tired after a very long day, I was in a hurry, and the phishing emails should I act fast I thought I was in trouble.
“But I wasn’t just falling into it. I tried to deal with the issue I was being warned by using the official, authentic X-site. What is the worst thing that could happen? ”
“Well, I know. I should have been thinking the opposite — I mean, if this allegation issue is really serious, they’ll contact you again.”
He added: “My main mistake was not to check my email address that revealed that it was a hacker and not X that I was contacting me. Everything else looked real. .”
Robinson told listeners today that Huck came a few days after being “overwhelmed by a critical message” from Elon Musk supporters after pointing out a statement made by the owner of the X billionaire. .
His today’s co-host Amol Rajan raised the hack, joking that his “very unique tech brother, the mighty Nick Robinson, has finally succumbed to temptation online.
“This is big news for the UK and what listeners want to know, Nick, how do they invest?” he added.
Robinson said his account was used to make it appear that it was launching a cryptocurrency called “$Today” on the Solana Blockchain platform.
“So, if you read it, it’s total nonsense and very entertaining nonsense,” Robinson told the program.
He added: “But there are lessons learned – don’t click on everything you see.”
Taking over an X account to promote fraudulent crypto coins is a common method used by low-skilled cybercriminals to make quick amounts.
They often spread the internet wide by sending phishing emails to many well-known accounts to maximize their chances of chewing. At that point they quickly spun a crypto coin that only took over the account and took a few hours to create and launch.
They hope that attention-grabbing and trustworthy accounts encourage people to purchase some of the otherwise worthless coins, and then some before it all blocked and stopped. It will allow you to make money. In this case, it appears that the scammers were unable to make much money for their efforts.
But Toby Lewis, global threat analysis director at cybersecurity firm Darktrace, said everyone could be targeted and fall victim to similar hacking scams.
“There are signs we can look at, but the problem with these emails is that they are designed to attack us when we are distracted and busy,” he said. .
“Good advice is, don’t click on the email link. If it’s an important message, it will be found on the relevant website when you log on.
“But these types of threats make them constantly evolve.”
X was approached for comments.
