Hemant flags hacking of JMM's X account
2
Ranchi: JMM president and chief minister
Hemant Soren
on Sunday said the official X account of his party has been hacked, prompting him to order a police investigation into it.
Apart from expressing concern over the breach, the chief minister appealed to the Elon Musk-owned social media giant to take cognisance of the matter.
Party members said at 12:12 am on Sunday, the hackers posted a suspicious link along with an image of a rodent on the JMM's X account, which was immediately flagged by Hemant on his social media platform. No other activity related to hacking was detected on the account thereafter.
Taking to X, Hemant, who is in Delhi to attend to his ailing father Shibu Soren, wrote, "The official X handle of JMM @JmmJharkhand has been hacked by anti-social elements. @JharkhandPolice please take cognisance of this matter and investigate it promptly. @XCorpIndia please take cognisance of this matter. @GlobalAffairs"
In the recent past, a series of cyber attacks have also targeted social media accounts of politicians, top-ranked bureaucrats, political parties and websites of prominent govt organisations in Jharkhand, exposing the growing vulnerability of digital platforms.
The latest attack on the official X handle of JMM was also just the tip of the iceberg.
Around one and a half months ago, state agriculture minister Shilpi Neha Tirkey also fell victim to a cybercrime. According to the minister, her Instagram and Facebook accounts were compromised.
Experts said these incidents were not isolated cases. Just days ago in June, cyber frauds impersonated Ranchi DC Manjunath Bhajantri, raising concerns about his identity theft with the intention to defraud and cheat others of their hard-earned money or gain sensitive information.
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The DC's office immediately announced that someone had impersonated the officer's Facebook account, thus preventing any further damage.
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Similarly, the social accounts of Hazaribag DC Shashi Prakash Singh and his Dhanbad counterpart Aditya Ranjan were also faked. In both cases, the fraudsters were found engaging in conversations with the known contacts of the two officers, to demand money or collect sensitive information.
The hackers, however, failed in their attempts after the offices of the DCs also issued warnings about the hacking.
Even political leaders have not been spared by these cyber frauds as Panki BJP MLA from Palamu, Shashi Bhushan Mehta, was duped of Rs 1.27 lakh on July 1. Moreover, websites of prominent organisations like Central Coalfields Limited (CCL), too, have suffered technical glitches, sparking speculations of being hacked by fraudsters originating in a foreign country.
According to cyber experts, hackers are often sponsored by enemy countries and they can have multiple intentions behind their attacks. "Many times, these attacks are sponsored by neighbouring enemy states to retrieve crucial information by gaining access to the social media platforms of prominent figures and organisations," said Vineet Kumar, the founder and global president of CyberPeace Foundation.
He informed that the attacks are launched at critical and sensitive infrastructure, including water treatment and energy plants, and hospitals to disrupt normal activities and create chaos.
"Apart from information gathering, many attacks are orchestrated for financial fraud and duping people. The newest form of financial fraud that has been emerging is that Indian nationals are being trafficked to Cambodia via Thailand and employed in scam centres run by India's enemy countries to dupe Indian citizens," Kumar added.
As the menace is growing rapidly, law-enforcing agencies have also been taking a proactive stance against it.
On July 5, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) busted an organised Chinese cybercrime network, arresting seven individuals involved in illegal investment scams and digital arrests.
Police sources said the modus operandi of the hackers and their sponsors was to send malicious apps to smartphones linked with bank accounts. "Once the phone owner installed the apps, they automatically transmit OTPs and all bank alerts sent to the particular phone to servers controlled from China. This enabled the Chinese hackers to gain remote access to the Indian bank accounts which were then used to transfer the defrauded money to offshore accounts," the source added.
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