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The handle showed posts advertising cryptocurrency.
Screengrab from X.
Parliament’s X social media account has apparently been hacked to show posts advertising cryptocurrency.
One of the posts included a dollar sign alongside President Cyril Ramaphosa’s name, as well as hashtags referencing “Solan” and crypto-related terms.
Those posts on @ParliamentofRSA have since been deleted and the account is currently inactive.
Parliament spokesperson Moloto Mothapo confirmed the hack.
“Parliament has identified a security breach affecting one of its 25 YouTube streaming services, which is integrated with its official social media accounts. This breach resulted in the unauthorised upload of content not aligned with the work of the institution,” Mothapo said.
“Parliament’s digital team immediately intervened to terminate the compromised stream. While a full investigation is underway to determine the source of the breach, additional safeguards are being put in place to strengthen the integrity of our digital infrastructure.”
Mothapo said Parliament’s multiple YouTube streaming services provide real-time, unfiltered access to committee meetings and house sittings, which ensures broad public engagement through integration with social media platforms.
“This expanded digital reach enhances public involvement and openness, as mandated by the Constitution, but also increases cybersecurity risks, which require continuous monitoring and reinforced security measures. We remain committed to maintaining secure and reliable use of these platforms for the benefit of the public.”
ALSO READ: Microsoft warns of phishing campaign targeting Booking.com
Meanwhile, Microsoft has revealed that hotels, resorts and other businesses in the hospitality industry are being targeted by a sophisticated phishing campaign that impersonates Booking.com.
The software giant’s Threat Intelligence report revealed that the campaign uses a social engineering technique called ClickFix to deliver multiple credential-stealing malware and conduct financial fraud and theft.
“As of February 2025, this campaign is ongoing,” Microsoft said.
ALSO READ: Pam Golding hacked: Real estate giant investigating data leak
Microsoft said Storm-1865 specifically targets hospitality organisations that are likely to work with travel agencies in North America, Oceania, South and Southeast Asia and Europe.
The malicious campaign sends fake emails purporting to be from Booking.com.
According to Microsoft, in the ClickFix technique, a threat actor attempts to take advantage of human problem-solving tendencies by displaying fake error messages or prompts that instruct target users to fix issues by copying, pasting and launching commands that eventually result in a malware download.
“In this campaign, Storm-1865 identifies target organisations in the hospitality sector and targets individuals at those organisations likely to work with Booking.com. Storm-1865 then sends a malicious email impersonating Booking.com to the targeted individual,” Microsoft said.
Earlier this week, real estate giant Pam Golding Properties said it had suffered a data breach of its customer relationship management system hosted on its servers in South Africa.
The company said the incident occurred last Friday and involved an unknown third party that gained access to its systems through a user account.
ALSO READ: How to stay cybersafe and avoid cybercrime when travel planning
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