MOSPI’s Twitter handle hacked briefly

The Twitter handle of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) appeared to be hacked briefly on Thursday as it was showing a display picture of Tesla chief Elon Musk.

However, the handle, which has over 40,000 followers, was restored later in the afternoon.

Sources said the ministry got in touch with the cyber crime cell and had to reset its password. The hacker reportedly also posted replies to some tweets. However, nothing new was tweeted from the handle.

Asked about the incident, the spokesperson of the ministry did not confirm it and told PTI to wait for the ministry’s official response.

The MOSPI publishes important macroeconomic data in the form of national account, industrial production index and inflation indices, among others.

It tweets important national statistics, used by policymakers as well as executives for decision making.

Earlier, the Twitter handles of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting too were briefly hacked by cyber criminals.