Huge embarrassment for the British Army as it is hit by a cyber attack after its social media account begins tweeting about ape-themed NFTs in security scare
- Army’s Twitter posted a storm of tweets promoting competitions to win NFTs
- Their YouTube page was also hacked and began promoting cryptocurrency
- Hack raises concerns over the security of armed forces’ social media accounts
- An NFT is a unique computer file encrypted with an artist’s signature and stored on the blockchain
The British Army’s Twitter account was hacked today and flooded with content promoting giveaways and competitions for followers to win non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
The social media account’s name was changed several times, while new profile pictures included an ape wearing facepaint akin to that of Batman villain The Joker, as well as a cartoon robot.
Posts made from the account are urging followers to join competitions, with winners selected at random to receive NFTs – digital artworks that are stored on the blockchain.
British Army’s YouTube channel was also compromised and replaced with an account promoting several live videos which purport to display an interview with Tesla founder Elon Musk about cryptocurrency.
The party behind the cyber attacks is not yet known, but the embarrassing breach raises serious security concerns for the armed forces and suggests that other social media accounts could be at risk.
An Army spokesperson said: ‘We are aware of a breach of the Army’s Twitter and YouTube accounts and an investigation is underway.
‘We take information security extremely seriously and are resolving the issue. Until the investigation is complete it would be inappropriate to comment further.’
The social media account’s name was changed several times, with new profile pictures including an ape wearing facepaint akin to that of Batman villain The Joker (pictured), as well as a cartoon robot
The account later changed to promote an NFT series called ‘The Possessed’
An NFT is a unique computer file encrypted with an artist’s signature, which acts as a digital certificate of ownership and authenticity.
Unlike similar technologies such as bitcoin, each NFT is in some way unique. This means they can be used for more than just currency.
In the past few years, NFTs have been adopted by people seeking to turn art, music, videos and games into digital assets – and have been hailed as the digital answer to collectibles.
But as with any new industry or trend, the NFT space is highly attractive to scammers and hackers looking to take advantage of those with little knowledge of the emerging technology.
Scammers recently targeted the Bored Ape Yacht Club – a highly-prized NFT collection – and made off with millions of dollars worth of digital assets after unwitting owners clicked on phishing links published via one of the collection’s compromised manager accounts.
As with any new industry or trend, the NFT space is highly attractive to scammers and hackers looking to take advantage of those with little knowledge of the emerging technology
The Army’s YouTube channel meanwhile was replaced by an account called ArkInvest which purported to host conversations with Tesla founder Elon Musk on cryptocurrency
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