The e-ticketing portal of the Indian Railways has been hacked, exposing the personal data of its customers, The Times of India reported on Thursday. “The data is a valuable asset and can be sold to corporations,” the paper quoted a source in the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited as saying.
The IRCTC strongly denied the Times report. Its Public Relations Officer Sandip Dutta maintained there has been “no hacking attempt on the site” and “a high-level committee has been formed to probe the matter”.
According to the Business Standard, the Railway Board, which manages Indian Railways, has instituted a six-member panel of experts to investigate if there has been any data theft and if that information belongs to the “IRCTC website or some other source”.
If the hack is proven true, newspapers say, the personal data of around 1 crore customers – such as PAN card numbers, Aadhaar card details, email addresses and mobile numbers – could be at risk. IRCTC is India’s largest e-commerce website, handling lakhs of transactions a day.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and the Ministry of Railways didn’t comment on the alleged hack on Twitter. But that didn’t stop Twitterati from using the news to roast the IRCTC site for its poor services.
IRCTC website hacked. Knowing how the government functions, the password to the CMS must have been very complicated like 'India123'.
— lindsay pereira (@lindsaypereira) May 5, 2016
IRCTC website hacked. Website is so slow, the hackers still failed to book any Tatkal Ticket.
— Ankur Singh (@iAnkurSingh) May 5, 2016
Hope #IRCTC hacker puts a new algorithm for 21F & 23M together.
— Trendulkar (@Trendulkar) May 5, 2016
Hope we find the guy who hacked the #IRCTC website. So that we can contact him the next time we need a Tatkal ticket.
— Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) May 5, 2016
When you think your Railway minister is Prabhu but it turns out he's just another Suresh.https://t.co/V2V46d1UId
— Roflindian (@Roflindian) May 5, 2016
IRCTC website is hacked and apparently the database was purchased by ICICI credit card department and Dr. Batra"s hair clinic.
— Gustakh Nigah (@SarcastiCharm) May 5, 2016
Dear #IRCTC Hacker,
— Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadeja) May 5, 2016
Please Put That Stolen Data On A Different Website That Loads Faster. You Might Get A Bharat Ratna. ;)
Respect for #IRCTC hackers- for being patient enough to access & open up servers that refuse to load even one page! https://t.co/mL7Ce2RMf9
— Akash Banerjee (@akashbanerjee) May 5, 2016
#IRCTC website hacked..
— Sir Rohit Sharma (@SirRohitSharma0) May 5, 2016
I think the hacker was unsatisfied with d food & services of Indian Railway!!!
Dear Hackers,
— सोलकढी (@Soul_Kadhi) May 5, 2016
Any #protip for booking tickets to Goa via #KonkanRailway?
It's insanely wait listed in two minutes every time.#IRCTC