Both accounts have since been returned to their rightful owner.
“The breach of the Army’s Twitter and YouTube accounts that occurred earlier today has been resolved and an investigation is underway,” Britain’s Ministry of Defense tweeted Monday.
“The Army takes information security extremely seriously and until their investigation is complete it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
A Twitter spokesperson confirmed the British Army’s account “was compromised and has since been locked and secured.”
“The account holders have now regained access and the account is back up and running,” the spokesperson told CNBC via email.
A YouTube representative was not immediately available for comment when reached by CNBC.
Tobias Ellwood, a British Conservative lawmaker who chairs the defense committee in Parliament, said the breach “looks serious.”
“I hope the results of the investigation and actions taken will be shared appropriately.”
It’s not the first time a high-profile social media account has been exploited by hackers to promote crypto scams. In 2020, the Twitter accounts of Musk, President Joe Biden and numerous others were taken over to swindle their followers of bitcoin.
