President Isaac Herzog’s account on the Telegram messaging application was hacked as part of an online scam, his office announced Thursday.
The President’s Residence said the hack appeared to be crime-related, suggesting it was not carried out by a hostile country or organization, and the matter was “being dealt with” by the Shin Bet security service.
The “breach has been closed and the account has returned to normal operation,” Herzog’s office said in a statement.
It added that an initial probe indicated no data was stolen.
No details were given about the online scam and how it led to the account being breached.
The statement was issued after Telegram users received a notice that Herzog had joined the messaging app.
A screenshot of the alert showed the account was under the name of “Isaac (Buji) Herzog,” including the president’s nickname. As of Thursday afternoon, no such account could be found on Telegram.
Last month, the Shin Bet announced it was investigating a potential breach of 15 Yesh Atid lawmakers’ phones, after they were blocked from the WhatsApp messaging service. Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, who heads Yesh Atid, was among those affected.
In 2019, Iran was accused of hacking a phone used by opposition politician Benny Gantz. Gantz, at the time running for election, accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party of leaking information about the breach to the media to use as fodder for its political campaign.
