Government Confirms President Mahama’s Official X Account Temporarily Hacked

• The government has confirmed that President of Ghana John Mahama’s official X account was compromised
• The president's X account showed posts promoting a questionable cryptocurrency investment scheme
• The compromised X account has since been restored after collaboration with Elon Musk's social media company

The government has confirmed that President John Mahama’s official X account, formerly known as Twitter, was hacked.

Mahama's X account showed posts promoting a Solana Africa cryptocurrency investment scheme.

In a statement, the Cyber Security Authority said the hack was detected on Monday, March 17.

The account has since been restored to the president after collaboration with Xm according to a March 18, announcment.

"My team has restored my account, working with the X support team," the account stated.

The Cyber Security Authority said it is working closely with X and other relevant stakeholders to investigate the incident.

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Mahama's account posted multiple tweets endorsing the Solana blockchain network, urging his over 2 million followers to invest.

Solana has been gaining traction in the region due to its lower transaction fees compared to Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Some social media users accused the presidency of engaging in a scam. These endorsements were legitimate by some credible organisations like Binance.

Crypto-related hacks on high-profile accounts are common with scammers using them to push investment scams.

Data from trading platforms show that Solana Africa peaked at a market cap of around $2.4 million before crashing to approximately $7,000 after liquidity was drained.

Some critics drew links to the presidency's favouring of Woezor TV, which is owned by deputy chief of staff Stan Dogbe.

Mahama was criticised for using his account to promote a private business.

Perspective from Cyber Security analyst

Dr. Edward Danso-Ansong, Head of Cyber Security Lab at the Department of Computer Science, University of Ghana, noted that this incident is not peculiar.

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According to Danso-Ansong, the incident, which is an “account takeover”, is usually targeted at high-profile personalities with large following on social media.

“In actual fact, this particular incident is not something that is actually occurring in isolation. There has been a number of such notable incidents where a technical account takes over. This type of attack is what we call an account takeover."

“It’s usually targeted at people with high POS, people who are influential. For instance, in the year 2020, Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Joe Biden, Bill Gates all suffered a similar fate on their Twitter or X accounts,”

How are twitter accounts typically hacked?

Attackers often use fake login pages to trick users into providing their credentials.

Also, if users use the same password across multiple sites a compromise to one site could open the doors to a hack.

Hackers might also manipulate individuals into revealing their passwords.

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Criticism of Woezor TV support

The government was accused of sidelining the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, which is Ghana’s national broadcaster.

The presidency and John Mahama’s social media accounts have been promoting and broadcasting feeds from the private station.

The criticism of the Woezor TV situation has centred around concerns about conflict of interest.

Critics have cited Article 284, which states that 'a public officer shall not put himself in a position where his personal interest conflicts or is likely to conflict with the performance of the functions of his office'.

Dogbe defended the state’s favouring of Woezor TV, saying there was nothing wrong with it.

"Should it be wrong for GTV to pick a live feed from WoezorTV from say, Aflao, Tumu, Munich or Addis Ababa? Absolutely no. That is the kind of collaboration that should exist between the networks."

Sam George orders shutdown of radio stations

In related news, YEN.com.gh reported that the Ghanaian Minister for Communication Sam George directed the National Communications Authority to shut down seven radio station frequencies for various reasons.

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Six stations were operating without valid authorisation, while one other was closed on security grounds. Gumah FM in Bawku was shut down over national security concerns raised by the Upper East Regional Security Council.

The Ministry for Communication, in a statement, explained that aside from Gumah FM, the other six failed to renew their authorisation, fulfil payment obligations, or submit the required documentation in the time frame.

Source: YEN.com.gh