New Secretary of Defense's YouTube account hacked because password was as simple as '1234'

Sign up to receive the email View from Westminster for Expert Analytics straight to your inboxReceive our free View from Westminster emailPlease enter a valid email addressPlease enter a valid email addressI would like to receive offers, events and updates by email day of The Independent. Read our privacy notice{{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later.{{ /verifyErrors }}

The new British Defense Secretary once claimed that his YouTube account had been hacked because the password was "1234" or something equally easy to guess.

Worried Tory MPs have taken to WhatsApp to re-share the story of how Grant Shapps explained the hack - which happened before a 2007 by-election.

Then shadow housing minister Mr Shapps claimed a Liberal Democrat campaign comment. the video was not directed by him.

But the comment is from Mr. Shapps' official account. It cast doubt on the Liberal Democrats' chances in the Ealing Southall poll, sparking allegations of astroturfing.

The comment read: 'Okay actually we're not going won't win. Especially since the Tories have just received 5 defecting Labor councilors. I don't really know how they did it, but the Tories took over from us this time.'

The bloggers suggested Mr Shapps was trying to fake a comment to make it look like it was from a Lib Dem, but forgot which account he was logged into.

But, when asked by the broadcaster Iain Dale for an explanation, Mr Shapps claimed to have used a very easy to guess password, similar to 1234.

< p>A Tory spokesperson said at the time: 'We have no absolutely no idea how this message appeared, but it looks like someone has accessed their account. The short password has now been replaced with something more secure.

"Au Over the past two days, he deleted a number of posts from his own YouTube videos that had appeared without permission. We will monitor the account carefully and cannot rule out the activities of our opponents.

On Friday, Politico reported that the story was "circulating WhatsApp groups" after Rishi. Sunak has promoted Mr Shapps to Secretary of Defense.

Mr. Shapps has also come under increasing pressure to delete his TikTok account over security concerns.

The Chinese-owned app has been banned by the official government. lest user data be transferred to the Chinese government.

Energy Secretary Mr Shapps then pledged to continue using TikTok on his personal phone despite the prohibition.

It