The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has shared that Radio 2000’s X (formerly Twitter) account was hacked recently.
The account, which has a following of over 245K, was taken over on by hackers but according to a statement by the public broadcaster, steps had been taken to “rectify the situation”.
“The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), would like to alert the public to the hacking of Radio 2000’s X (formerly Twitter) account.
“The hack happened on Sunday, 02 June 2024 and X has been duly informed and the station is taking steps to rectify the situation,” read the official Instagram post.
The SABC urged the public to disregard any posts that came from the hacked account.
“Radio 2000 will keep its X platform users updated on-air and on its other social media platforms, on any further developments.”
Radio 2000 started its X page in 2011 as a way to boast its social media footprint and to connect with listeners easily.
Over the past 13 years the station has garnered 245.2k X followers.
In a time where having a large social media following is crucial to the overall business plan, losing an account to hackers can be devastating.
According to research done by online site “Station X” social media hacking is on the rise.
It stated that on average 1.4 billion social media accounts are hacked every month, and that number will continue to rise as more and more people create social media accounts.
Meanwhile, a Google report found that 20 percent of social media accounts will be compromised at some point.
Here in Mzansi, local celebrities have also faced the brunt of cyber crimes.
A few years ago, local musician and actor NaakMusiq shared that his X account was taken over by a Turkish man who posted an array of posts, including selfies, social pictures, YouTube links and comments in Turkish.
Last month, singer Mlindo The Vocalist’s manager, Trevor Mofokeng, shared that the singer’s Facebook account had been hacked three years ago.
The hacker had gone as far as insulting the “Isandla Ska Baba” hitmaker and his family on the social media page.
Mofokeng said that they had been trying for many years to reclaim the account without success