Chandigarh, August 28
In a case of major security breach, suspected Pakistani cyberpunks hacked the official website of BSNL’s Punjab circle --- www.punjab.bsnl.co.in --- on August 21. The hackers, claiming to be members of urduhack.net, succeeded in defacing one of the pages on the site by posting comments in Urdu on it.

The BSNL was quick to react and removed the page from the site. It also closed down its server in Bangalore soon after the intrusion was detected. 

BSNL officials claimed that no vital data was damaged or downloaded. Interestingly, the hackers have posted a video on the YouTube showing details of the operation. The video titled, bsnl hacked by urduhack.net, has a typed message that says: “This is a payback from the urduhack.net for hacking the Pakistan website on August 15. We are warning you all for the last time.....we can jam all Punjab phones and network. We have got all the data, phone directory info, billing, passwords and e-mails. But we believe in giving a warning first.”

A senior BSNL official, pleading anonymity, told The Tribune that the site was compromised but the intrusion was detected well in time. “They managed to intrude into the server but could not get control of it as we were quick to shut down the site,” he said, adding that the claims made by the hackers regarding downloading of vital data were false. Another official said that soon after the intrusion was detected, SMSes were immediately sent to all the people concerned in the department and they were informed about the site being shut down.

The incident comes within a week of the hacking of Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Mallaya’s official site, www.mallyainparliament.com. The Mallya site also carried a message in Urdu. “This is in retaliation to the defacements of Pakistani sites. You are playing with fire,” it said.