Hacking of PM Modi's Twitter handle exposes cyber security chinks: Oppn

Several Opposition leaders on Sunday expressed concern over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Twitter account being hacked briefly, and said this exposes chinks in the cyber security.

They said cyber security was as important as border and internal security and asked whether the Aadhaar data of all Indians was safe.

Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said, "Hacking of Twitter handle of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an issue of big concern, worry and exposes the chinks in cyber security. With advancement and reliability on technology, policy makers must realise that cyber security is equally important as border, internal security."

Shiv Sena deputy leader in Rajya Sabha Priyanka Chaturvedi said, "Prime Minister's account hacked briefly. Cyber security level exposed greatly."

Another Congress spokesperson, Shama Mohammed, said, "PM Modi's Twitter handle was hacked last night. This is a major security breach."

"If the government cannot adequately secure the account of the Prime Minister, how is it protecting the biometric aadhaar data of crores of Indians which it insisted on collecting," she asked.

Indian Youth Congress president BV Srinivas made a cheeky comment in response to a tweet on the hacking.

"Good Morning Modi ji, Sab Changa Si?" he said in response to the tweet that claimed India has "officially adopted bitcoin as legal tender" was put out from the hacked account.

Srinivas also asked, "When hackers were selling Bitcoin from Modi ji's account, where was the 'chowkidaar' at the time."

"So the hackers knew, Modi ji's password didn't have the 'STREANH'?(sic)" he said in another tweet.

Prime Minister Modi's Twitter handle was briefly hacked on Sunday, and a tweet claiming that India has "officially adopted bitcoin as legal tender" was put out from it.

The Prime Minister's Office later said the account was immediately secured after the matter was escalated to Twitter.

"The Twitter handle of PM @narendramodi was very briefly compromised. The matter was escalated to Twitter and the account has been immediately secured. In the brief period that the account was compromised, any Tweet shared must be ignored," it said.

The tweet, after Modi's personal handle was hacked in the small hours, also claimed that India has officially bought 500 BTC and is distributing them among its residents and shared a link, asking people to hurry up. The future has come today, it said.