The Uttar Pradesh government website was restored soon
Posts related to Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) flooded the official Twitter handle of Uttar Pradesh government after it was targeted by hackers today, days after the handle of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's office on the microblogging site was hacked.
Hackers also targeted the verified Twitter handle of Punjab Congress and put up similar posts as on the Uttar Pradesh government's timeline.
While the Uttar Pradesh government website was restored within minutes, the Punjab Congress's handle took more time to be restored.
The hackers had changed the profile image and description of the handles.
"In celebration for the reveal of the Beanz Official Collection, we have opened up an airdrop to all active NFT traders in the community for the next 24 hours!" a post pinned by the hackers on both timelines read.
In the early hours of Saturday, hackers targeted the handle of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister's office. They changed the profile picture and posted about 500 tweets on timeline, most of them tagging other Twitter users.
The account was suspended soon after the breach was spotted. It took about 4 hours to restore the handle. A police case has been registered and officials have assured strict action against those found behind the hacking.
Also, Twitter handles of University Grants Commission and the India Meteorological Department have been hacked over the past few days. The modus operandi in those online attacks was similar to today's attacks - the hackers changed the profile picture to that of a comic character's and then posted several tweets tagging hundreds of people.
As for NFT, it is a digital asset on a blockchain with a unique signature. The blockchain allows anyone to verify the authenticity and ownership of an NFT. NFTs are usually bought with cryptocurrencies. Sometimes they are also bought in dollars or fiat currencies and the transactions are recorded on the blockchain.