After a hack in December of the twitter of Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister announcing the legalization of Bitcoin, the Indian government was the victim of new hacks this weekend. The objective of the hackers: to increase the value of their wallet.
When the Indian government sells NFT on the sly
Complicated start of the week for the Indian government bodies that promoted a fake NFT airdrop.
It all started on Saturday April 9th. Victim of a cyber-attack, Yogi Adityanath, the head of the 4th largest Indian department, displayed his love for the NFT BAYC collection by changing his profile picture.
After this makeover, Yogi tweeted to inform his fans of their eligibility for the Azuki NFT collection airdrop.
Following this success and probably rested from the weekend, our hackers did it again on Monday, April 11th. Why stop at a politician when you can attack the government account?
That’s how the Indian government’s twitter account started to highlight the Beanz Official collection.
“We have decided to give back to our community by distributing extra airdrop claims to holders of Azuki and other NFTs. Claim your airdrop of BEANZ and become involved with the Azuki ecosystem using the interactive Azuki NFT.”
The post redirected the gullibles to a page with the domain name “beanz.army”. Of course, to receive the airdrop, it was necessary to connect to the hackers’ site. A connection allowing them to retrieve your private key to access all your funds.
We remind our readers again: NEVER share your private key!
After six long hours, the Indian authorities have regained control of their accounts. An investigation is underway by the Lucknow Anti-Cybercrime Police, but the identity of the hackers remains unknown at this time.
India keeps changing its tune regarding cryptocurrencies. Alternating between complacency and banning Bitcoin, Ether and other digital assets, India recently decided to tax them massively.
Did the hackers want to express their displeasure to the Indian government? Protesting against this regulation which, under the guise of protecting users from the volatility of cryptos, hinders the adoption of decentralized ecosystems. A brake allowing the Indian central bank to keep its monopoly on the money supply.
Were they simple hackers wanting to get rich by speculating on the future value of cryptos? The mystery remains.
Co-founder of Coinpri, Expert in blockchain and NFT, I vulgarize the new web3 and blockchain paradigm here.
