UP CMO's Twitter Account Restored After Being Briefly Compromised, Hackers Post 400-500 Tweets

The breach was noticed when unknown hackers used the UP CMO Twitter account to put up random tweets and also changed the profile photo.

New Delhi: Twitter account of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister's Office (CMO) was hacked on Saturday. 

A senior officer informed that the hackers sent out 400-500 tweets from the account, news agency PTI reported.

As per news agency ANI, the breach was noticed when unknown hackers used the UP CMO Twitter account to put up a tweet based on a tutorial called "How to turn your BAYC/MAYC animated on Twitter".

In addition to this, a caricature photo was used as a profile picture on the UP CMO account. Screenshots show that the hackers also posted a thread of some random tweets on the UP CMO account. 

"The account was hacked for around 29 minutes in the night. The hackers posted around 400-500 tweets, and the account was suspended on grounds of unnatural activity," a UP official told PTI.

The government of Uttar Pradesh responded to the incident by stating, "An attempt was made to hack the official Twitter account UP Chief Minister Office (CMOfficeUP) last night by anti-social elements. After the investigation of the case by cyber experts, the strictest action will be taken against the responsible."

The UP CMO (@CMOfficeUP) Twitter account has four million followers at present.

In February, Bharatiya Janata Party national president Jagat Prakash Nadda's Twitter account was hacked and later restored. The account name was changed to "ICG OWNS INDIA".

Certain tweets inviting crypto donations for Ukraine aid appeared on the profile.

"Stand with the people of Ukraine now accepting cryptocurrency donations Bitcoin and Ethereum," a tweet on JP Nadda's Twitter account read.

Another tweet written in Hindi claimed that the account was not hacked and all donations would go to the Ukrainian government.

The tweets were deleted as the account was recovered. The hackers appeared to be attempting a crypto fraud amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.

A similar attempt was made in December last year when Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Twitter account was briefly compromised.

As per the screenshots shared by Twitter users, the tweet put on by PM Modi's account had claimed that India had officially adopted bitcoin as legal tender, adding that the government bought bitcoins which would be distributed to the people. 

(With Agency Inputs)