Ministry of Defence website hacked, Chinese characters appearing on home page; home ministry website taken down

Defence ministry website hacked: “The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later” message was being flashed on the home page.

The website of Ministry of Defence appeared to have been hacked on Friday, officials said. They said there were Chinese characters on the website, indicating that Chinese hackers may be involved in it. “The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later” message was being flashed on the home page.

An MoD spokesperson told The Indian Express that it is seized of the matter and has contacted the relevant government agencies. The matter is being investigated and things will soon be restored. The spokesperson, however, refused to confirm if the hacking was done by the Chinese or by hackers from any other country, pending the investigation.

Later in the day, the official website of Union Home Ministry was taken down as a precautionary measure in the wake of the hacking of the defence ministry site.

An official spokesperson said the National Informatics Centre, which hosts the MHA site, is upgrading the security system of the website leading to its temporary suspension. “The requested service is temporarily unavailable. Sorry for Inconvenience. It would be available soon,” is the message that comes when one opens the MHA website.

The spokesperson said the move has been taken as part of extra precautions. The MHA site was down soon after the news came that the defence ministry’s website was hacked.