Hackers deface UK National Lottery athlete promotion

For a few hours last night the UK National Lottery’s campaign to highlight the success of Britain’s athletes was defaced by unknown hackers who superimposed ugly messages on the images of Olympic heroes depicted on the company’s Twitter account thanking the British public for its support.

Some of the messages referenced sensitive topics such as Maddie McCann, Jimmy Saville, Mick Philpott and the Hillsborough disaster.

The offensive comments and material have since been removed.