WC 2015 IND vs BAN: Bangladeshi hackers take over former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor’s website
Mumbai: In a bizarre act of cyber crime, Bangladeshi hackers group ‘Black Hat Hackers’ on Monday hacked the website of Congress MP and former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor.
My website hacked: a small price to pay for supporting Team India http://t.co/MF7KUivVE2 pic.twitter.com/Vnd4MoR9DR
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) March 17, 2015And to everyone’s surprise the main reason behind the attack was not political. The hackers warned the Indian cricket team against underestimating the Mashrafe Mortaza-led Bangladesh cricket team in the quarterfinals scheduled to take place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday.
(Photo: Screengrab)
The hackers called their national team ‘Tigers’ and threatened to manipulate the Indian cyber space. India have a 24-3 record against Bangladesh overall, but what’s alarming is that both teams are on par with each other in World Cups.
The hackers justified their crime stating some vague belief that the Indian media was downplaying the team, an act they referred to as ‘downsizing’. They also warned India to 'watch your history', pointing to India's shocking loss to Bangladesh at the 2007 World Cup which eventually led to the team's elimination from the tournament, and the Asia Cup loss in 2012.
On the website’s hacked page, there is also a link to the group’s Facebook page which proudly reveals the number of Indian websites hacked by the miscreants in the past 12 hours. Add to that, they’ve also posted the links to each hacked web page.
When we visited these links, the pages reveal a picture of the Bangladesh team with information that the website has been hacked in revenge for the ‘Mauka Mauka’ ads on Indian television.
But the big question lies. Why Shashi Tharoor? A few days ago, Tharoor had tweeted in support of Bangladesh when they were up against England in their league game so that the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Team India have an easy path to the semifinals.
Check out: Hapless England fans turn to Crown for answers
Bangladesh in turn defeated Eoin Morgan and his men by 15 runs, in what was this World Cup’s biggest shock.
Rooting for Bangladesh to beat England today in #cwc2015 since England would be more of a challenge to face in the QFs! Washout fine too...
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) March 9, 2015The Bangladeshi ‘Black Cat Hackers’ seem to have been offended by these tweets and as a result justified their crime.
Congratulations Bangladesh on pipping England at the post &giving the Boys in Blue a better shot at a semi-final slot!
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) March 9, 2015