Gardaí regain control of official X accounts after crypto hack

An Garda Síochána have confirmed they have regained control of social media accounts after a hack which saw 'unauthorised access' to two official profiles on X. Gardaí have said they are carrying out enquiries and working with X to determine how 'unauthorised access' to its accounts occurred. Both the @GardaInfo and @GardaTraffic accounts were impacted, with the breach confirmed by a spokesperson on Thursday morning. A statement was released by gardaí around 12 hours after the accounts were breached. From around 11pm on Wednesday night, both accounts changed their information and began sharing a huge number of posts promoting cryptocurrency products. On Thursday evening, gardaí confirmed they had regained control of the accounts but they will remain inactive while the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau carry out its investigations. 'As this security breach is now subject of a criminal investigation An Garda Síochána is not making any further comment at this time,' they added. Official garda accounts on other platforms like Facebook and Instagram have not been hacked and appear to be running as normal. The spokesperson confirmed that 'unauthorised access' has only occurred on X, adding that no garda systems were accessed and there was no loss of garda data. Members of the public have been advised to avoid interacting with accounts or posts shared by them. Both X accounts began sharing posts promoting a cryptocurrency app claiming to offer users an 'allocation' of XRP. XRP is a cryptocurrency used primarily in the finance world by investors, fintech companies and payment providers. The official @GardaTraffic account on X has had its profile picture removed, and has been used to promote cryptocurrency. © X screenshot X accounts that suffer hacks are often used to push crypto scams on a large number of followers. @GardaTraffic has more than 600,000 followers, while @GardaInfo has more than 298,700 followers. Hundreds of posts tagging individual users, offering them an allocation of cryptocurrency, have been shared through the @GardaInfo and @GardaTraffic accounts since around 11pm on Wednesday night. Both accounts have had their locations changed to Amsterdam. @GardaInfo has had its handle changed to @HelpXaman, and its profile picture and banner have been changed to branding for a crypto app. The @GardaInfo account has had its handle, profile picture and banner changed. © X screenshot The @GardaTraffic account has had its profile picture removed but remains otherwise unchanged. 'An Garda Síochána can confirm third-party unauthorised access with two Official Garda Social Media X accounts @gardainfo and @gardatraffic,' the full statement from gardaí reads. 'This unauthorised access has occurred on the X platform only. 'An Garda Síochána is satisfied that there is no unauthorised access with any Garda systems and that there is no loss or impact on any Garda data. 'An Garda Síochána is warning members of the public not to interact with any content posted on the @gardatraffic or @gardainfo X accounts, or accounts purporting to be these accounts. 'An Garda Síochána continues to carry out our internal enquiries and work with the X platform to understand how this unauthorised access has occurred.'