Twitter hacking: Police seek info from 5 countries

Investigators want to know if the hackers used the servers in these countries from somewhere else or they were physically present there

New Delhi, Dec 14: The Delhi Police has sought information from five countries to help it trace the group which hacked into the twitter accounts of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and his party.

The hacking group 'Legion', which claimed responsibility for the act, is still a mystery for internet service providers. The Delhi Police is probing the case after it received a complaint from Congress members.

Accounts of two journalists -- Barkha Dutt and Ravish Mishra, both from the NDTV group -- were also hacked, but their complaint was yet to be received the cyber cell of the police.

During its preliminary enquiry, the police could trace IP addresses from five countries -- Sweden, Romania, the United States, Canada and Thailand -- in the hacking job.

Investigators want to know if the hackers used the servers in these countries from somewhere else or they were physically present there while breaking into the microblogging sites of Gandhi and his party.

"We have got the IP logs from Twitter. The details of IP logs were sent to the internet service providers in five countries after a thorough examination. We are yet to get the details of hacker's account and address," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Cell) Anyesh Roy told IANS.

Asked if the act was done by twitter hackers, Legion, Roy said "the group is itself taking responsibility for hacking these microblogging sites but we don't as yet have any information about the real hackers. The case is under investigation".

Roy said the police was also taking help of Twitter officials in Bengaluru to identify those responsible.

The Cyber Cell is probing the case after two First Information Reports under Section 66 (c) of the Information Technology Act were filed.

Randeep Singh Surjewala, a senior Congress leader, had filed a complaint with the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police on December 1 after the two accounts were hacked and a string of abusive messages posted on their Twitter handles.

IANS