Website of Hinjewadi Industries Association hacked, ATS steps in

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Patwardhan said the Association was working on a new website which would be up and running soon. Though the HIA had not lodged any formal complaint of hacking with the police agencies till Tuesday, the state’s Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) has initiated a probe in this case.

When the history of the URL of the HIA website was accessed using online tools, the screen displayed “Hacked by Dr Avatar and Fallag Firas and Fallag XTN…. We are once again knocking snicks and snitches doors cause your crimes is something we dont forgive”.

The hackers have also posted content about “Terrorism Against Muslims” in different countries.

HIA is the umbrella body of the software companies operating out of the Rajiv Gandhi Industrial Park in Pune. It acts as the facilitator between the industry and the various government agencies.

The body has representation from all the major IT companies in the region and often takes up issues related to infrastructure security of the over three lakh employees of the IT park.

HIA members often hold meetings with public representatives and government officials to solve the problems of the IT park.

In the recent past, the HIA has donated patrol vehicles to the Hinjewadi police station and has been operating Metro Zip, a transport service for the employees of the IT Park. HIA has been actively lobbying for promotion of public transport in the region as well as improving the public infrastructure of the area.

Deputy commissioner of police (cyber cell) Deepak Sakore said no complaint in this regard had been registered with the cyber cell. Assistant commissioner of police Bhanupratap Barge of the state’s Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) said, “We have not received any complaint from the HIA yet. But we have initiated probe based on the information that we have got.”

Earlier, in January this year, the website of the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication was hacked by cyber criminals. The hacker in this case had identified himself as “Don – 2” and had posted threat messages in Arabic language.

Also, in March last year, the official website of Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Officers), based in Pune was hacked.

Continuous safeguard of website must: Ethical hacker

Rohit Srivastwa, an ethical hacker and founder of ClubHack, says continuous security monitoring and safeguarding is always recommended for all websites.

“Making websites is simple and easy these days. But people hardly ever think of security while making a website. They only realise it when things go wrong. There’s hardly any learning from mistakes of others. Making website is cheaper but people don’t understand that securing them is also cheaper, just a bit of awareness is needed. Attackers always look for low-hanging fruits and they take pride in defacing such sites of prestigious associations,” he said.