Home minister's WhatsApp hacked

Summary

• Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail’s WhatsApp account has been hacked, with his office warning the public not to fall for scams involving money or meeting requests.

• The incident follows past hacks targeting other politicians.

• WhatsApp’s support page urges the use of two-step verification for account security.

Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail’s WhatsApp account has been hacked.

In a statement today, his office said the matter has been reported to the authorities and urged members of the public not to be duped by calls or messages that purportedly came from the minister.

This is especially for matters involving money or appointments to meet.

“We regret this irresponsible hacking and hope the public will not be easily duped by such scams.

“We also advise members of the public to be more aware of social media scam syndicates and report the hackers’ actions to the authorities,” it said.

The case is the latest of instances where messaging and social media accounts of prominent politicians were purportedly taken over by hackers.

In February, Kelantan Menteri Besar Nassuruddin Daud’s WhatsApp account was purportedly hacked and used to solicit money.

In August 2022, the Telegram accounts of then-prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and foreign minister Saifuddin Abdullah were also hacked.

WhatsApp advises users to enable its two-step verification feature to help protect their accounts from unauthorised access.

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