The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s (MIB) official Twitter account was hacked on Wednesday for a short while. And the hackers chose to rename the handle as ‘Elon Musk’ .
India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting account compromised. @MIB_India pic.twitter.com/W1PQxr03jK
— Rishikesh Kumar (@rishhikesh) January 12, 2022
Besides some cryptic tweets, a few malicious links were also shared from the Twitter account. Later, the spam tweets, one of which said “great job”, were deleted from the timeline.
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting account compromised ?@MIB_India pic.twitter.com/wQvVrvWpCr
— Arvind Gunasekar (@arvindgunasekar) January 12, 2022
However, the ministry was quick to put out a tweet indicating to Twitter users that the account has been restored.
The account @Mib_india has been restored. This is for the information of all the followers.
— Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (@MIB_India) January 12, 2022
Meanwhile, a Twitter user came in with tips to safeguard the account. On the other hand, a few on the micro-blogging site seemed immensely concerned.
Set a very difficult password. 🙏
— პრამოდი 🇮🇳 (@aumpramod) January 12, 2022
When the account of the government itself is not safe in Digital India, then what can happen to normal person like us, is this Digital India??
— फलनवा छौड़ा ( झारखण्डी ) (@EXBABUSONA2) January 12, 2022
I also asked to many news agency about it but they didn’t reply. It should be serious concern for the entire ministry that how hackers do this very easily. pic.twitter.com/NyNvrno2OQ
— Mukesh Chauhan (@Mukeshhh9801) January 12, 2022
Ministry’s account hacked ??? 😱😱😱#MIB pic.twitter.com/dkOm60COeL
— Abhishek Lohia (@JuniorLohia) January 12, 2022
Hackers strike again. This time hack @MIB_india.
— Ankit Lal 🏹 (@AnkitLal) January 12, 2022
Can the government plz take some basic steps to ensure security of the verified twitter handles? pic.twitter.com/aRJwxq1zmM
The MIB handle was hacked today for a brief period. Not sure why the hackers always love Elon Musk!! 🤔 pic.twitter.com/bxLgMvdfUQ
— Manas Muduli🇮🇳 (@manas_muduli) January 12, 2022
Hacked and certainly a fan of @elonmusk!
— Aditya (@_aditya_narayan) January 12, 2022
Hope this gets restored at the earliest. @MIB_India pic.twitter.com/bi4NOXHSSJ
A report by India Today suggests that the Twitter accounts of the Indian Council of World Affairs, Indian Medical Association and Mann Deshi Mahila Bank were hacked earlier this month. Back then, too, the handles were renamed as ‘Elon Musk’.
Previously, on December 12, 2021, the personal Twitter handle of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also compromised. The hackers then posted a tweet promoting cryptocurrency from the handle. Shortly afterwards, the account was restored.
