Rahul's Twitter compromised through email breach

New Delhi: Twitter said on Thursday that the official handle of Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi was not hacked, but compromised on Wednesday through an email breach.

According to a report in NDTV, the Congress has said that Rahul’s email account, party’s website and server were also hacked.

ANI also quoted its sources in Twitter as saying that tracing IP address of the hacker would be "next to impossible" if he used proxies to hack Congress IT cell.

The official Twitter handle of the Congress was also hacked, on Thursday, with profanities directed at Rahul.

 

The Congress on Thursday raised the issue of digital security after expletives-laden tweets were posted on its Twitter handle in the morning, a day after Rahul’s account was hacked. The party said it reflects disturbing insecurities of the prevalent "fascist culture" in the country.

The Ministry of Information Technology has asked Twitter to submit details of activities on Rahul Gandhi's Twitter account from the last six days, while Delhi police have also launched a probe into the hacking of the accounts.

"We have written to Twitter to provide us log details such as the IP address of the hackers. We have started investigating the matter," a senior police official said. Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala had filed a complaint with the Economic Offences Wing of the Police around 1 am, an official said.

MEITY's cyber security arm Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) will investigate the matter. CERT-In has authority to collect information stored or communication carried out by any computer in the country for the purpose of cyber security.

Gandhi's account was hacked around 8.45 pm and some messages with profanities were put out, but these were deleted soon thereafter.

"Such lowly tactics will neither drown the sane voice of reason nor deter Rahul Gandhi from raising people's issues," Surjewala had said.

"Such unscrupulous, unethical and roguish conduct of venal trolls to hack Rahul Gandhi's Twitter handle reflects disturbing insecurities of prevalent fascist culture," he said.

Surjewala also tweeted, "Pre-meditated hacking of @OfficeOfRG smacks of a sinister conspiracy to abuse and intimidate. It strengthens our resolve to fight for the Nation."

"Hacking of@OfficeofRG proves lack of Digital safety around each one of us. Every digital info can be accessed, altered, morphed & modified," the Congress leader said in another tweet.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel also tweeted, "The way @OfficeOfRG a/c got hacked, as cybercrime and Twitter watched helpless raises serious Q's on digital safety, Digital India future."

"Those forcing country to adopt online payment overnight, have they taken steps to ensure a/c of ordinary ppl will be immune from hacking?," he also said.