Go First still working on restoring its hacked Twitter account

Budget carrier Go First has yet to restore its Twitter account that was hacked on September 14 early morning, an airline official said on Thursday, September 15.

The official told PTI that work is in progress to restore the account and that there are no issues with its IT systems. This is the second time this year that the handle has been compromised.

The teams concerned are investigating the matter to restore and gain control at the earliest and are also working closely with Twitter to address the issue, the airline said in a statement.

On Wednesday, September 14 after the account was compromised, the display name was changed to ‘vitalik.eth’ along with the picture of Vitalik Buterin. Buterin is one of the co-founders of the cryptocurrency Ethereum. Later, the display name and picture were removed but the account is still not restored.

Posting cryptocurrency giveaways has become a common modus operandi of scammers. Earlier this year, the official Twitter account of the University Grants Commission (UGC) India was also hacked, apparently by scammers claiming to be affiliated with the Azuki NFT project.

The aviation industry is facing a rising wave of cyber attacks and breaches. Two Indian airlines this year – Air India and Akasa Air – had their online security compromised, potentially putting the data of millions of passengers at risk.

In Air India’s case, up to 4.5 million passengers had their data compromised, with sensitive information like passport details and credit card numbers leaked. The breach affected the “personal data of some passengers” travelling with the airline from August 2011 to February 2021.

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The newly launched Akasa Air also faced a cyber attack last month. The carrier informed the passengers affected by the breach, reassuring them that no critical information, such as payment details or travel records, was accessed.

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Cover Image – Akshay Mantri