The verified Twitter account for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal website and mobile app has been hacked, Twitter has reportedly confirmed. Tweets asking for bitcoin donations for the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for Covid-19 were posted on the account.
Twitter Account Tied to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Hacked
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s twitter account for his personal website and mobile app was hacked on Thursday, Twitter has reportedly confirmed. The hacked account was for Twitter handle @narendramodi_in, which has about 2.5 million followers. Modi’s personal account with 61.8 million followers was unaffected.
A series of tweets were posted on the hacked Modi’s account for about an hour, asking people to donate bitcoin to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for Covid-19. One tweet reads:
Yes this account is hacked by John Wick … We have not hacked Paytm Mall.
The hacker used the pseudonym John Wick, which likely refers to the action movie character of the same name portrayed by Keanu Reeves. It is also the alias of a known cybercrime group. On Sunday, risk intelligence firm Cyble claimed that this group hacked Paytm Mall, the e-commerce marketplace wing of Paytm. Cyble alleged that the hackers were able to gain unrestricted access to Paytm Mall’s entire database using a backdoor/ Adminer. The company has denied this claim.
Another tweet from the Modi’s hacked account reads: “I appeal to you all to donate generously to PM National Relief Fund for Covid-19, now India begin with crypto currency, kindly donate bitcoin to [ETH address] #eth #cryto … Official tweet of PM Modi.” All the tweets made during the account breach have been deleted.
