The hacking of private email accounts by intelligence services for political purposes has become a fear around the world following the release of thousands of emails from the US Democratic party, allegedly by Russia.

David Glance, the director of the University of Western Australia Centre for Software Practice, said Alex Turnbull was a logical target for criminals or security agencies.

"His Chinese wife with ties to Chinese political elites," he said. "His work in private equity firms - access to information as well as his wealth. And yes, being the son of the former PM would also potentially make him a target from a number of groups."

Alex Turnbull urged political families to take greater care of their electronic privacy, and predicted Australia would one day experience the interception of phone messages by journalists, which in Britain triggered a scandal that led to the closure of News Corp's News of the World tabloid.

"People in office need to start to get family to lock their stuff down now," Alex Turnbull said. "You have to. You really have to. At some point some news agency is going to compromise people's hardware."

Tough times @rupertmurdoch . An ex of your wife wrote a great tune about times like this. I think it was played at a recent inauguration, can't remember which. https://t.co/gRAfL1dsKj — Alex Turnbull (@alexbhturnbull) August 24, 2018

He said he created a Facebook account to stop impersonators on the popular social network. His only Facebook connection is his wife, Yvonne, whose parents are Chinese, he said.

But he is becoming a regular Twitter user. Since he tweeted a jibe at Mr Murdoch on Friday, Alex Turnbull's followers on Twitter rose from about 1500 to 4200 as of early Sunday afternoon.


The Murdoch connection

The comments provide an insight into the pressures on the Turnbull family over the past two years and eleven months, in part from what they felt was the hostility of media outlets owned by News Corp, which is chaired by Rupert Murdoch.

Alex and his sister, Daisy, have four children between them.

Lucy, Alex, Daisy and Malcolm Turnbull in a photo from the former prime minister's website.

At his farewell press conference on Friday, the former prime minister expressed regret at the attention his position had drawn to his children.

"Often children get attention from the media and others that they frankly don't deserve in terms of people wanting to have a crack at their father by going after them," he said. "It's been tough on them, at times."

'I'm happy it's all over'

Alex Turnbull was involved this year in a high-profile dispute with his former employer, Goldman Sachs, over the bank's work for the Malaysian state fund, 1MDB, which was allegedly plundered.


Daisy's husband, James Brown, unwillingly became embroiled in criticism of his former employer, the US Studies Centre at Sydney University, which conservatives complained was left wing. The think tank was recently given $12 million by Mr Turnbull's government.

Alex Turnbull, his wife Yvonne and their daughter Isla in 2016. Jason Edwards

Alex Turnbull said he was relieved that his family would no longer be the object of attacks by media outlets for his father's policies.

An economics graduate from Harvard University and environmentalist, Alex Turnbull said he was not a member of the Liberal party and would not join nor seek office.

"If you weaponise people's families, people's families will not let them go into public office," he said. "I haven't lived in Australia for a long time for exactly that reason. I'm happy it's all over."