The official Instagram account of the White House, previously associated with former US President Barack Obama, was compromised, according to TMZ.
The breach was identified on Sunday when several atypical posts and memes surfaced on the account, which operates under the username @obamawhitehouse.
The most notable post featured an AI-generated image with a caption that translated to: “The White House is under Shiites’ control,” as per TMZ.
Additionally, the hacker allegedly uploaded new Instagram stories to the account, which boasts 2.4 million followers.
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Meta, the parent company of Instagram, confirm account secured
A spokesperson for Meta, the parent company of Instagram, confirmed the breach to TMZ, stating that the account has been secured and all unauthorized content has been eliminated.
TMZ reported that the last authentic post on the account was made on January 20, 2017, coinciding with the inauguration of President Donald Trump.
No information has been disclosed regarding the identity of the individual or group responsible for the hacking incident.
Obama also has a distinct personal Instagram account under the username @barackobama, which has amassed 42.2 million followers.
A quick look at past
Nonetheless, Obama’s White House account was earlier compromised in July 2020 during an attack that also affected the accounts of Joe Biden, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk, as per Daily Mail.
The accounts belonging to Gates and Musk offered Bitcoin payments to their followers.
Consequently, Twitter – now referred to as X – imposed temporary restrictions on verified accounts.
The FBI informed NBC News at that time that it was aware of a “security incident involving several Twitter accounts belonging to prominent individuals” and recognized that the hackers appeared to aim to “perpetuate cryptocurrency fraud.”
‘We advise the public not to fall victim to this scam by sending cryptocurrency or money in relation to this incident,’ the agency stated.
In this case, the hacker, Joseph James O’Connor from the UK, pleaded guilty in the United States to charges that included computer intrusion, wire fraud, and extortion, receiving a sentence of five years in prison in 2023.
He was apprehended in Spain in 2021 and subsequently extradited to the United States after Spain’s High Court determined that the US was the most appropriate venue for prosecution due to the presence of evidence and victims there.