Police portals back online after cyber attack diverts users to betting sites

The official websites of the Cyberabad and Rachakonda police commissionerates have been successfully restored after remaining offline for weeks following a hack. Unidentified perpetrators tampered with the sites, redirecting unsuspecting users to illegal gaming and betting pages. Visitors attempting to access vital information, such as police station contacts and services, were instead met with “site can’t be reached” errors, effectively severing public access to essential information.

The Cyberabad police flagged the breach on 15th November when their IT cell detected the malicious redirects, prompting an immediate shutdown as a security precaution. The Rachakonda portal followed suit, remaining offline for over a week amid similar issues. A Delhi-based cybersecurity firm, working under the supervision of the National Informatics Centre (NIC), conducted thorough audits, patched the identified vulnerabilities, and oversaw system upgrades. Both sites were finally restored by Thursday after rigorous testing. Officials have confirmed that no data breach occurred, with zero evidence of compromised information.

This attack follows a discernible pattern of cyber threats targeting Telangana’s digital infrastructure, coming shortly after the 11th November hack of the Telangana High Court website. That breach diverted users to the ‘BDG slot’ betting platform and compromised PDF files containing sensitive case details. Earlier in 2024, previous breaches had already forced the Telangana Police to conduct an audit of its internal systems. Investigations into the attacks are ongoing, but no arrests have been reported yet.