Ministry of Defence official website hacked

New Delhi [India], Apr 6 (ANI): The official website of Ministry of Defence was hacked on Friday, raising a serious question on the security system of the country.

On visiting, the website displayed an 'error' message and asked users to 'try again later' with Chinese characters appearing on the home page of the website.

Taking to her Twitter handle, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the website will be restored shortly and assured to take steps to prevent such eventuality in the future.

"Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website ( http://mod.nic.in ). The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken. @DefenceMinIndia @PIB_India @PIBHindi," Sitharaman Tweeted.

Following the incident, the Twitter stormed with comment criticizing the incident.

A Twitterers termed the incident as an "embarrassment for the Ministry."

"Big embarrassment for @DefenceMinIndia . Official MoD website has been defaced by what seem to be Chinese hackers. Google translates the Chinese symbol to `Not Early'," he Tweeted.

Other Twitter user referred it as an "insufficiency" of the IT Ministry.

Time has come for a "Ministry of Cybersecurity." IT ministry is insufficient and can't keep pace with technology.

Evidently, the cyber attack has not been a new strategy and government officials have been prime targets of the hackers.

In 2016, a total of 199 government websites were hacked in India, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had told the Parliament.

In fact, more than 700 websites under the Indian government have been hacked from 2013 to 2016.

Last year in January, the website of the National Security Guard (NSG), the Indian Special Forces unit combating terror activities, was also hacked posing unprecedented threat to national security.

The website was, however, blocked immediately by the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT.IN). (ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI