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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
National
Brendan Hughes

NI secretary Chris Heaton-Harris apologises for 'deeply unpleasant' posts after Twitter account hacked

Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has apologised for "deeply unpleasant" messages posted on his Twitter account after it was hacked.

It comes days after the Twitter profile of another Cabinet minister was altered.

On Monday morning, Mr Heaton-Harris's account posted a spate of tweets, suggesting security had been compromised.

Some of the tweets included swear words and one a racial slur.

Read more: Northern Ireland Office 'exploring feasibility' of flying Union flag at Belfast city centre headquarters

The Northern Ireland secretary deleted the tweets and wrote on his account: "My Twitter account was hacked this morning, messages not posted by me have been deleted."

However, the tweet disappeared shortly afterwards and his account posted a string of further tweets, which suggested security had once again been compromised.

In one, the account said: "We are passing a new law soon, all transgenders and homosexuals will now serve 10 years behind bars."

The tweet was posted twice as whoever appeared to hack into Mr Heaton-Harris's account spelt "serve" as "server" the first time.

Eventually, the Northern Ireland secretary appeared to regain control of his account, as the posts were deleted and he apologised in a new tweet.

He said: "I'm afraid my Twitter account was hacked overnight and someone posted some deeply unpleasant stuff on my account for which I can only apologise."

Mr Heaton-Harris's account being compromised comes just over a week after Education Secretary Gillian Keegan's account fell victim to hackers.

In November, the Secretary of State had to deny he had resigned after a sham statement was emailed to the press on the Northern Ireland Office circulation list.

It prompted a Twitter exchange with Elon Musk after Mr Heaton-Harris dismissed the email as "complete and utter tosh" and challenged the Twitter boss to "eliminate fake news".

Mr Musk responded directly to the tweet in which he had been tagged, posting: "What does a tosh look like?"

The fake email appeared to have been issued due to an "archaic" government communications system, a cyber security expert said.

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