Email account of senior Army officer hacked

New Delhi: The Delhi police is probing the email hacking of of a serving Brigadier currently posted at the Army Headquarters, ministry of defence. An FIR was filed on Monday, stating that the Army man’s email was hacked when he was pursuing a security course in the US in August. The hack has sparked off concerns of sensitive national security information being leaked.

Hackers had successfully hacked the account of the brigadier and sent emails, reportedly containing sensitive information, to unknown persons. A police source close to the investigation confirmed the incident and said they were looking into the matter.

The source said that Brigadier Sanjay Puri  had been attending a course in United State when his email was hacked. He was using a Google account to receive and send information to his colleagues.   

“He had been in America from August 1 to August 25 for attending a security course. His email got hacked on August 9. At that time, Brigadier Puri was in class. He returned to his accommodation and tried to log in into his account but failed. He had received an message that his account password was changed ten hours back,” the police source said.

He immediately informed the same to concerned Army officials and Delhi police as well. Brigadier Puri then contacted his nephew who lived in Washington and niece who lived in California. His relatives reportedly contacted Google  officials who helped Brigadier Puri recover his email account. After recovery of his email, Brigadier Puri was able to log in but was shocked to see that few mails were sent to mysterious persons. His inbox messages and folders containing Army information were also sent to mysterious people. Thinking that this could lead to compromising of national security, Brigadier Puri contacted the Delhi police and requested them to look at the matter.

The source said that the IP address through which the email of Puri was hacked belonged someone who lives in national capital region (NCR). “The hacker also wanted to steal the personal information about the army official. They might be using same modus operandi to get sensitive information. This is very serious,” the source said. Though the police have lodged a case in this respect but they were yet to make any arrest in the matter.