New Delhi: The official Twitter account of Syed Akbaruddin, India’sAmbassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, was takenover by hackers early Sunday morning before it was restored.
The hackers posted what appeared to be the crescent symbols from the redand green flags of Turkey and Pakistan, respectively.
A message in Turkish pinned on the hacked Twitter account of Mr Akbaruddinsaid, “You are hacked by the Turkish cyber army Ayyildiz Tim! We got yourDM correspondence! We will show you the power of the Turk! I Love Pakistan”.
After coming online again, Mr Akbaruddin tweeted it will take more than “ahack to keep me down.”
After taking control of the diplomat’s account, the hackers changed theverified Twitter handle from ‘AkbaruddinIndia’ to ‘AkbaruddinSyed’. Thechange in the handle’s name immediately removed Twitter’s ‘blue tick’ thatshows an account as a verified one.
The hackers continued to tweet, including a link to YouTube that showed avideo of Ayyildiz Tim, a group that claims to be hackers from Turkey, and aphoto of Pakistani president Mamnoon Hussain next to a photograph of thecountry’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
After Mr Akbaruddin’s Twitter account was restored with its originalhandle, the verified ‘blue tick’ also returned. “I’m back… Thanks toTwitterIndia & many others who helped,” he tweeted.
Cyber security experts have long warned against rising incidents of hackingof state-run websites and social media accounts. In 2016, at least 199government websites were hacked in India, the Home Ministry had toldparliament.