After Anupam Kher & Ram Madhav, Twitter Hackers Hit Kiran Bedi

Kiran Bedi is the latest victim of Twitter account hacks after Swapan Dasgupta, Anupam Kher and Ram Madhav.

Anupam Kher, Kiran Bedi and Ram Madhav

(Photo altered by The Quint)

The Twitter account of Kiran Bedi was hacked on Tuesday, 6 February.

Kiran Bedi is the latest victim of Twitter account hacks in the past 24-hours after Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Das Gupta, actor Anupam Kher and BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav.

The latest tweet from her account is a Turkish tweet showing colourful graphics.

Kiran Bedi’s Twitter account

The accounts are reportedly being hacked by Turkish pro-Pak hackers. According to DNA, the hackers send a direct message to a Twiitter handle, with a link attached. Once the person clicks the link, the account is hacked via phishing. Once an account is hacked, it sends out DM to multiple accounts, which spreads the virus further.

The direct message reads. “Hi, Please read this important news http://the-guardian.tk You can access it from this link by logging in.”

Swapan Dasgupta also received the message, following which it was sent to multiple people who were following him – actor Anupam Kher was one of them. Dasgupta’s account is yet to be retrieved.

Swapan Dasgupta’s Twitter account

Anupam Kher, who is currently in Los Angeles, said he got to know about the breach from his friends in India and has alerted the microblogging site about the incident.

"My Twitter account has been hacked. Just got few calls from friends in India about it. I am in LA and it is 1 am," Kher told PTI over a text message.

The actor said he received a link from Dasgupta in a direct message, a first ever from him on Monday, 5 February, which he clicked on.

"Got a DM yesterday from Mr Swapan Dasgupta's account about a link. A first from him. So opened it. Have spoken to Twitter already," Kher added.

Kher’s account has now been retrieved.

Ram Madhav’s account was also hacked and had some pro-Pakistan tweets put out along with Turkish tweets.

According to NDTV, one of the messages posted on Madhav's handle read, "Your account has been hacked by Turkish cyber army 'Ayyildiz Tim'. Your DM correspondence and important data have been captured. I Love Pakistan."

Reportedly, these are the same hackers who had targeted the Twitter accounts of some supporters of US President Donald Trump last month.

Twitter responded to the hackings by saying, "Our teams are working to resolve an issue affecting a small number of Indian users. We will notify affected account holders directly," reported NDTV.

It put out a note of caution as well – "do not click on links in DMs coming from unknown accounts".

(With inputs from PTI, DNA and NDTV)