Kochi: An Indonesian hacker has cracked the Kerala Public Relations Department's website and collected data of thousands of registered users.
The hacking had apparently taken place on March 12, but the department officials appear to be in the dark about the incident.
The hacker, who identified himself as ZeeX_IND, published user names and passwords of around 1,500 persons registered with the public relations department's online radio (radio.kerala.gov.in).
The hacking was detected by Mallu Cyber Soldiers, a Facebook collective of Keralite hackers.
The Public Relations Department had launched the online radio in December 2019 to reach out to Keralites around the world. The 24-hour-radio has been disseminating information about the government's development projects, apart from many entertainment programmes.
Radio Kerala is a sub-domain of Kerala government's official website, kerala.gov.in.
Ethical hackers said the incident showed the vulnerability of the government's website. “The hacker has sent out a warning. The government should take this incident seriously,” Trideep (name changed to protect identity), an ethical hacker from Kochi.
"With this, they warned the government that they could easily hack other officials websites," he said.
