Main Highlights:
- Narendra Modi’s official Twitter account — @narendramodi — announced just after midnight that India has formally recognized bitcoin as legal cash, triggering suspicions of a hack owing to the announcement’s timing.
- Nirmala Sitharaman, the country’s finance minister, declared late last month that New Delhi had no plans to accept bitcoin as a currency.
- Sunday’s tweet, which has been deleted, included a link to an untrustworthy website. And declared that New Delhi had purchased bitcoins intending to distribute them to its residents.
- Both Twitter and the Prime Minister’s office confirmed that the social network swiftly safeguards the account after becoming aware of the behavior.
- On Sunday, Modi’s office stated that his account had been fully secured and that any tweets shared during that period should be ignored.
On Sunday, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Twitter account was “briefly infiltrated,” his office stated. Modi’s account — @narendramodi — tweeted shortly after midnight that India had officially adopted bitcoin as legal tender, sparking suspicions of a hack due to the announcement’s timing. And because New Delhi has indicated in recent months that it will enact a strict law regulating cryptocurrency. Late last month, Nirmala Sitharaman, the country’s finance minister, stated that New Delhi had no plans to recognize bitcoin as a currency.
What occurred during that period?
Sunday’s tweet, which has since been removed, contained a link to a shady site and stated that New Delhi had purchased bitcoins and intended to distribute them to the country’s inhabitants. Modi’s office tweeted on Sunday that his account had been completely secured and that any tweets shared during that period should be ignored.
Modi is one of the most popular Twitter users, with nearly 73 million followers. Twitter and the Prime Minister’s office stated that the social network immediately safeguards the account after becoming aware of the behavior. The latest information on who hacked the account. It was unknown who hijacked the narrative. The shady blog to which it referred was unavailable at publication.
Twitter’s Internal System
Twitter’s first assessment reveals that PM Modi’s account “was not compromised as a result of any breach of Twitter’s internal systems,” according to sources. Additionally, the study indicates that the hacking activity followed a different pattern from last year’s global hack of world leaders’ email accounts, which was carried out via coordinated social engineering efforts. The first investigation determined a one-off attack directed at a single charge.
Meanwhile, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is attempting to ascertain the origins of the hacking attack, sources added.
More than 30,000 cyber security incidents directed at the Government in 2021
According to official government data, nearly 30,000 cyber security incidents involving government organizations occurred between January and October. By 2020, the number of cyber security incidents involving government organizations would have surpassed 50,000. On Friday, the electronics and information technology ministry briefed the Lok Sabha on cyber security concerns in a written response to a question.
Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar previously stated in the Lok Sabha that the government is well aware of cyber security threats as the Internet expands and many Indians connect to and use the Internet. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) is tasked with tracking and monitoring cyber security incidents.
According to CERT-In, a total of 1158208 and 1213784 cyber security incidents were observed in 2020 and 2021 (through October), respectively, he stated in a written response. According to the minister, a total of 54314 and 32736 cyber security incidents involving Government organizations occurred in 2020 and 2021 (up to October), respectively.
Additionally, the minister informed Parliament that several steps had been taken, including formulating a Cyber Crisis Management Plan to combat cyber-attacks and cyber terrorism, which all ministries and departments would implement.