Defence ministry website hacked, website under review

NEW DELHI: The official website of the Defence Ministry has been hacked and Chinese characters are appearing on the home page. Currently, the website is offline.

“Issue with the MoD website has been taken note of. Appropriate action has been initiated,” said a tweet from the Defence Ministry after the website was hacked.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman confirmed that the repairs will be made and the website will be restored shortly.

“Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website. The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken,” the minister tweeted.

Sources revealed the National Informatics Centre has been asked to investigate and furnish the details to the ministry. The centre maintains all government websites.

The alleged hacking scenario comes on the day the Indian Air Force declared that it was initiating its largest ever war games, keeping in check the dual threat from Pakistan and China.

India government websites have often become a victim of attack from suspended Pakistani hackers. In January, suspended Pakistani operators hacked the National Security Guard website and vandalized the home page with anti-India text and comments opposing the Prime Minister.

Over 700 websites linked to central and state governments were hacked in the past four years, as informed by government to the Lok Sabha. Experts associated the frequent hacking of websites to lack of security.