The Twitter handle of the Union Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry was compromised earlier on Wednesday morning, 12 January, and subsequently restored.
When it was hacked, the name of the account was changed to that of entrepreneur Elon Musk, and it went on to tweet a barrage of strange messages.
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Screenshot of the hack shared by netizens on Twitter.
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Screenshot of the hack shared by netizens on Twitter.
The ministry subsequently confirmed the restoration via a tweet.
Previously, on 2 January, Twitter accounts of the Indian Medical Association, Indian Council of World Affairs, and Mann Deshi Mahila Bank were hacked, and the hackers had changed their Twitter handle names to 'Elon Musk' as well. They had even promoted cryptocurrency and Bitcoin links via a series of tweets.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Twitter account was also "briefly compromised" in the early hours on 12 December. "The Twitter handle of PM @Narendramodi was very briefly compromised. The matter was escalated to Twitter and the account has been immediately secured," PMO India had written it in a tweet.