New Delhi: The Twitter account, which is linked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal website, appeared to have been hacked as cryptic tweets were posted early on Thursday. The fake tweets, soliciting cryptocurrency, have now been taken down.
In a series of tweets related to bitcoin, the messages posted on PM Narendra Modi’s Twitter account linked to his online portal read: “I appeal to you all to donate generously to PM National Relief Fund for Covid-19, Now India begin with crypto currency, Kindly Donate eth to 0xae073DB1e5752faFF169B1ede7E8E94bF7f80Be6.”
The verified Twitter account, which is linked to PM Narendra Modi’s personal website, has over 2.5 million followers.
“This account is hacked by John Wick ([email protected]), We have not hacked Paytm Mall,” another bogus tweet read.
Yes this account is hacked by John Wick ([email protected]), We have not hacked Paytm Mall
— narendramodi_in (@narendramodi_in) September 2, 2020
I appeal to you all to donate generously to PM National Relief Fund for Covid-19, Now India begin with crypto currency, Kindly Donate Bitcoin to 0xae073DB1e5752faFF169B1ede7E8E94bF7f80Be6 #eth #crypto – Official Tweet of PM Modi
— narendramodi_in (@narendramodi_in) September 2, 2020
Twitter had confirmed that the account of PM Narendra Modi’s personal website was hacked and said it was aware of the activity and has taken steps to secure the compromised account.
“We are actively investigating the situation. At this time, we are not aware of additional accounts being impacted,” a Twitter spokeswoman said in an emailed statement to news agency Reuters.
On August 30, cybersecurity firm Cyble had claimed hacker group John Wick was behind a “massive” data breach at Paytm Mall, the e-commerce arm of unicorn Paytm. Cyble had claimed the hacker group had also demanded ransom, as it had got unrestricted access to the firm’s database. Paytm had, however, said it had not found any data breach during an investigation.
Earlier in July, Twitter accounts of popular verified users like Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk among others were compromised as messages related to crpytocurrency were posted on their accounts. The corporate accounts for Uber and Apple were also affected during the major breach.The fake tweets had then offered to send $2,000 for every $1,000 sent to a bitcoin address.
Following the major security breach, India’s cyber security nodal agency CERT-In had, in July, issued notice to Twitter asking the micro-blogging platform for full details of the global hack targeting high-profile users.The Indian government had then demanded information of vulnerability exploited by attackers and modus operandi of the attack and sought details of remedial actions taken by Twitter to mitigate the impact of the hacking incident, according to a media report.
In August, officials said a 17-year-old Florida boy masterminded the hacking of celebrity accounts on Twitter Inc. A 19-year-old British man and a 22-year-old man in Orlando, Florida were also charged under US federal law with aiding the attack.
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