Someone purposefully caused damage to Antrix website: ISRO

It appears that the website has not been hacked, but might have been a purposeful attempt to link the home page to another page, an ISRO official said

The website of ISRO's commercial arm Antrix Corporation Limited appears to have not been hacked and the problem might have occurred due to a purposeful attempt by someone to link the home page to another page, an Indian Space Research Organisation official said.

The website of Antrix was reportedly hacked yesterday and thereafter the work to fix the problem was taken up by Antrix officials and it was blocked immediately.

"It appears that the Antrix website has not been hacked, but might have been a purposeful attempt by someone who linked the home page to another page," the ISRO official told PTI.

The official said there is no cause of worry for the website does not contain sensitive data.

"The problem is there but there should not be any cause of worry because the website does not contain sensitive data which could be detrimental for India's security," he said.

Asked if it was an internal or international attempt to cause damage, he said, "We still cannot say who that someone is. Investigations are on."

Asked what could have been the purpose for causing such a damage, the official said it could either be to gain popularity or for something else.

"The attempt to link the homepage to other page could be to gain popularity. The probe is on, or could be for some other reason," the official, who did not wish to be named, said.

Asked whether the investigation is being conducted by Antrix itself or they have hired an external agency, he said, "I am not in a position to tell this. The Antrix officials are in a better position to answer this."

Damage to Antrix website comes two days after ISRO successfully launched five British commercial satellites on board PSLV-C28 from Sriharikota in its heaviest commercial mission.

Antrix is ISRO's marketing arm for promotion and commercialisation of space products, technical consultancy services and transfer of technologies developed by ISRO.

It provides space products and services to international customers worldwide. Its clientele includes EADS Astrium, Intelsat, Avanti Group, WorldSpace, Inmarsat, and other space institutions in Europe, Middle East and South East Asia.