New Delhi: The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) stated early today that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal Twitter account had been “very briefly compromised.” The problem was reported to Twitter as soon as it was discovered. Following that, the Twitter handle @narendramodi was quickly obtained. In a tweet, the PMO India also asked everyone to disregard any tweets sent during the brief period when the account was stolen. A Bitcoin link had been circulated by hackers.
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) tweeted the information on its handle, “The Twitter handle of PM @narendramodi was very briefly compromised. The matter was escalated to Twitter and the account has been immediately secured. In the brief period that the account was compromised, any Tweet shared must be ignored.” It was unclear how long Modi’s personal Twitter account, which has over 73 million followers, had been hacked.
Malicious messages that had emerged on PM Modi’s Twitter account have finally been erased. Many others posted screenshots of the bogus tweets.The tweet claimed, “India has officially adopted bitcoin as legal tender. The government has officially bought 500 BTC and is distributing them to all residents of the country”.
Twitter reaction
After PM Modi’s personal Twitter handle was “very briefly compromised,” Twitter stated it took “required actions to safeguard” it.
“We have open lines of contact with the Prime Minister’s Office 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” a Twitter spokesperson stated, “and our teams took the required actions to secure the compromised account as soon as we became aware of this conduct.”
“Our examination has indicated that there are no evidence of any other impacted accounts at this time,” the representative stated.
Twitter users’ reactions
#Hacked became a trendy topic in India after PM Modi’s account was hacked.
“Good Morning Modi ji, Sab Changa Si?” tweeted Srinivas BV, the national head of the Indian Youth Congress.
A Twitter representative stated in an emailed statement to Reuters that the company took the required actions to secure the compromised account as soon as it became aware of the activity, and that an investigation identified no other impacted accounts at this time.
By posting this message, another Twitter user alerted others to the hack “Please do not click on the link that says #PMmodi #modi account #hacked. It’s a ruse…. PM’s account isn’t safe either. Is India’s social media safe from hackers, manipulators, scammers, and foreign influence? Has Twitter’s verified security been compromised?”
In September 2020, a similar incident occurred using Modi’s personal website’s Twitter handle, @narendramodi in, when a series of tweets were sent out requesting followers to give to a relief fund using bitcoin.
#mute
