Bihar govt's X handle hacked, renamed as German president's account

Hackers hijacked Bihar govt's X handle, renamed it as the German president's account, and posted controversial content

The official X (formerly Twitter) account of Bihar’s Water Resources Department has been hacked and repeatedly renamed, sparking security concerns. Officials confirmed the breach on Wednesday, mentioning that hackers have been changing the account’s name and handle multiple times to impersonate various entities, including government organisations, anonymous groups, and even political figures.  

 

According to an official statement, the hacked account, originally @WRD_Bihar, underwent several name and handle changes, creating mass confusion.   

“First, it was changed to ‘CHINA AI’ (@JKennedyTruth), then to ‘Anonymous group’ (@AnonymousAPTg), followed by ‘Stargate U.S.’ (@Stargate_GOV), ‘UN State’ (@UNstatenation), and ‘Marcelo Rebelo’ (@ChapuDanielgov). Later, it was updated to ‘Frank Steinmeier’ (@FrankWalterGER),” the department said.  

 

 

The cyberattack was detected a few days ago, after which the department immediately contacted X’s support team and the cyber police cell.  

 

“The hacker has repeatedly changed the account name and posted unrelated content. X’s support team took action and restored the account’s name to ‘Water Resources Department, Government of Bihar.’ We are now awaiting an official confirmation email from X,” the statement added.  

 

Hack extends beyond Bihar

 

Meanwhile, reports also surfaced that the official X account of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was also hacked and manipulated to resemble Bihar’s Water Resources Department.  

 

Multiple media sources and X users flagged the incident, revealing that the hackers had briefly changed the account’s handle to @adolf_gov with the description: “Make Germany Great Again.” 

 

This slogan mimicked Donald Trump’s famous campaign tagline, ‘Make America Great Again’ (Maga).  

 

Adding to the controversy, hackers allegedly posted an image of Adolf Hitler alongside Italian dictator Benito Mussolini with the caption: “Remember: when you stand together, when your goal is the same, when your spirit is unshakable, nothing can stop you. #MGGA.”  

The abbreviation ‘MGGA’ appeared to reference ‘Make Germany Great Again.’  

 

Brics News flags the incident, X account briefly suspended 

The verified X handle of Brics News posted about the alleged hacking of the German President’s official account, sharing a screenshot of its original state before the attack.  

 

Following widespread reports, the hacked account was briefly suspended before re-emerging with its name changed to the Bihar Water Resources Department, while still retaining the handle @FrankWalterGER.  

 

Bihar govt urges public to ignore fake posts 

The Principal Secretary of the Water Resources Department, Santosh Kumar Mall, urged people, the media, and social media users to avoid misleading information and trust only the official announcements from the verified government account.  

 

“We request everyone not to believe in false or manipulated content and rely only on the department’s official handle for accurate information,” he said.

 

[With inputs from agencies]