RAIPUR: The website of India’s National Institute of Technology (NIT) Raipur was hacked and defaced allegedly by Pakistani hacker Faisal Afzal on Thursday said a report published on The Times of India.

The NIT website was shut down and repaired within a few hours but it is possible the hacker may strike again.
The NIT website was shut down and repaired within a few hours but it is possible the hacker may strike again.

The website was defaced with text that read: “Hacked Pak Cyber Attackers”. A slogan at the bottom which said: “Pakistan Zindabad” was followed by “nothing harmed just defaced and deleted some vulnerable files, we are Muslim hackers, we hack for cause, not for fun”.

The hacker also displayed a mirror link to the hacked NIT page on his Facebook page which said that the National Institute of Technology Raipur Official Website has been hacked and rooted.

"National Institute of Technology Raipur Official Website HACKED AND ROOTED"

The report quoted cyber security expert Mohit Sahu as saying that Afzal messaged him on Facebook to tell him he had hacked the NIT website.

Sahu claimed Afzal had been accessing the NIT website for about a year but escaped detection. He had earlier hacked NIT Kolkata’s website and posted a mirror link to that on his Facebook as well, Sahu added.

“By hacking, Afzal wanted to show how vulnerable the websites are.”

The hacker had not destroyed or deleted any files, said Sahu, who added that the loophole would be remedied through discussion with cyber experts.

Read more: After wifi at the Taj, Modi revives campaign for "digital" India

The NIT website was shut down and restored within a few hours but it is possible the hacker may strike again.

“The hacker still has the 'buzz’ and he can hack whenever he wants to … Buzz is an open-source content management system mostly used by amateur users and they are in millions. Once it gets leaked or decoded, anyone can hack the sites,” Sahu said.

Mocking the technology used by Indian government website, Afzal reportedly warned that Pakistani hackers may hack more websites belonging to the Indian government.

Sahu said most Chhattisgarh government are vulnerable and can be hacked easily.

Read more: ‘Hackers’ invested millions in real estate, other businesses

Indian hackers have also taken down several Pakistani websites in the recent past.

Last year in October, hackers claiming to be Indians had defaced the website of the Lahore High Court, purportedly in response to PPP patron-in-chief Bilawal Bhutto's statements about Kashmir, in which he was reported to have said that his party would take the entire disputed region back to Pakistan.

Take a look: 'Indian hackers' deface LHC website

The official website of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was also defaced last year in October by a team of Indian hackers who had slammed Bilawal for his statement on Kashmir.

Examine: Indian hackers deface PPP website

Opinion

Editorial

Rigging claims
Updated 04 May, 2024

Rigging claims

The PTI’s allegations are not new; most elections in Pakistan have been controversial, and it is almost a given that results will be challenged by the losing side.
Gaza’s wasteland
04 May, 2024

Gaza’s wasteland

SINCE the start of hostilities on Oct 7, Israel has put in ceaseless efforts to depopulate Gaza, and make the Strip...
Housing scams
04 May, 2024

Housing scams

THE story of illegal housing schemes in Punjab is the story of greed, corruption and plunder. Major players in these...
Under siege
Updated 03 May, 2024

Under siege

Whether through direct censorship, withholding advertising, harassment or violence, the press in Pakistan navigates a hazardous terrain.
Meddlesome ways
03 May, 2024

Meddlesome ways

AFTER this week’s proceedings in the so-called ‘meddling case’, it appears that the majority of judges...
Mass transit mess
03 May, 2024

Mass transit mess

THAT Karachi — one of the world’s largest megacities — does not have a mass transit system worth the name is ...