Nick Robinson's X hacked to promote crypto

BBC journalist Nick Robinson says his X was hacked and used to promote cryptocurrency after he was apparently targeted in an online phishing scam.

The Today programme presenter became locked out of his on X, previously known as Twitter, on Monday night after he clicked a link in an email he wrongly believed was sent to him by the social media platform.

Robinson, 61, said that he was still locked out of his on Tuesday after his s were changed, "so anything you read today, it won't be me".

A cyber security expert said such attacks were likely to be opportunistic, with code instead of humans seeking out social media s who have a large number of followers, to exploit them.

The email sent to Robinson was designed to look like it was legitimate, and included a link it said would allow him to review content it claimed had violated X's policies to stop his being suspended.

But the email address which sent the email did not end with "@x.com" or "@e.X.com" addresses used by the platform for official communication.

Following Tuesday's Today programme, Robinson said he had fallen for the scam despite having completed online security courses which highlighted tell-tale signs of phishing emails.

He said: "Why? Because my defences were down - I was tired after a very long day, I was rushing, and the phishing email made me think that if I didn't act fast I'd be in trouble.

"However, I didn't just fall for it. I tried repeatedly to use the official authentic X site to deal with the problem I was being alerted to, and only after trying again and again and failing did I think 'oh sod it, what's the worst that can happen":[]}