The Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) has confirmed that its official X account (formerly Twitter) was hacked, leaving it inaccessible for over 17 hours.
The breach occurred late on Friday, January 31, affecting KBC’s account, which has more than 800,000 followers.
The hackers altered the handle from its original ‘KBCChannel1’ to ‘DeepSeek AI,’ causing confusion among Kenyans online. Many social media users quickly noticed the unusual changes and took to various platforms to raise concerns about the situation.
In response, KBC issued an official statement through its sister station, KBC Radio Taifa, assuring the public that they were aware of the issue and actively working to restore the account. “KBCChannel1’s X account has been compromised, and our team is working to regain full access.
We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience and urge our followers to be cautious when interacting with recent posts from the account,” the broadcaster announced.
A report by Kenyans.co.ke revealed that the hackers were cryptocurrency scammers who rebranded the account to ‘DeepSeek AI.’
DeepSeek AI, a Chinese artificial intelligence company often compared to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, has gained significant attention in recent days.
However, cybersecurity reports indicate that DeepSeek AI recently suffered a major data breach. According to The Hacker News, the company mistakenly left a database exposed on the internet, potentially allowing cybercriminals to access highly sensitive data.
The exposed database reportedly contained over a million log streams, including chat histories, secret keys, backend system details, API secrets, and operational metadata. This type of security lapse can put user information and company operations at significant risk.
KBC’s hacking incident highlights a growing global trend where high-profile social media accounts, including those on platforms like X and YouTube, are hijacked for fraudulent schemes.
Cybersecurity experts have continuously warned about the increasing sophistication of these attacks, where hackers often take over accounts and rebrand them to appear as trusted companies or famous individuals.
In many cases, hackers use these stolen accounts to run scams or demand ransom payments from the original owners. This tactic is especially common when large corporations are targeted, as criminals anticipate they may be willing to pay substantial amounts to regain control of their accounts.
With social media platforms becoming frequent targets for cybercriminals, experts advise users—especially businesses and influential entities—to enhance their security measures, such as using strong passwords and multi-factor authentication, to prevent such breaches.
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