New Delhi: Multiple groups have allegedly hacked and defaced several websites run by Indian state governments to protest against the Delhi riots.
Among the prominent sites defaced are those of the Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department and the Haryana Gau Seva Aayog, a state government organisation. While the CID website, allegedly hacked Friday morning, has been restored, the Gau Seva Aayog’s site remained inaccessible at the time of publishing.
The defaced web pages of these sites were tweeted by user @811Rishi, who calls himself an ethical hacker, in a thread beginning 2 March.
Indian Government website hacked by Indonesian Hackers with the Message of #DelhiViolence
Cc: @IndianCERT @NCIIPC May be more coming…⚠️ pic.twitter.com/2AyDIHuYdE— Rishi Dwivedi (@811Rishi) March 2, 2020
Also Read: ‘I’m jealous of Priyanka’ — how Sonia Gandhi reacted to WhatsApp hack news
Messages left on the hacked sites
According to Twitter user Rishi Dwivedi, the Haryana Gau Seva Aayog’s website was defaced to read, “For the government of India! We are Indonesian Muslim citizens. We see hard Indian citizens action. Wounded many Muslims in Delhi…We’re warning you, please stop hurting people of Muslims. Or we’ll attack your other websites [sic].”
This hack has been claimed by a group that identifies itself as the “One Hat Cyber Team”.
Indian Government website hacked by Indonesian Hackers with the Message of #DelhiViolence
Cc: @IndianCERT @NCIIPC May be more coming…⚠️ pic.twitter.com/2AyDIHuYdE
— Rishi Dwivedi (@811Rishi) March 2, 2020
The same group also hacked the website for Maharashtra’s Jalgaon police later in the week, leaving the same message.
Cc: @JalgaonPolice @IndianCERT @NCIIPC pic.twitter.com/yLrRAozF84
— Rishi Dwivedi (@811Rishi) March 5, 2020
The website for Jalgaon district has a link leading to this defaced web page: jalgaonpolice.gov.in. When clicked, it throws up a message that says the domain has been suspended.
The Maharashtra CID website, mahacid.gov.in, was defaced Friday to read, “In India, families of Muslims killed by Hindu mobs…We are warning you Indian police and Modi Government, stop hurting people of Muslims…Imam mahdi is coming soon (sic).”
Cc: @DGPMaharashtra #hacked #defaced #CyberAttack pic.twitter.com/31SVXwwtkL
— Rishi Dwivedi (@811Rishi) March 6, 2020
This hack has been carried out by a group that calls itself Legion. It was a group with the same name that reportedly hacked the Twitter accounts of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya.
Also Read: Access, not technology was the key to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ hack