If you are a politician and standing for elections in Andhra Pradesh, it’s probably time you started using your old low tech cell phone. Reason: Hackers are on the prowl and their target is none other than your smartphone.
In the run up to next year’s state elections, a few local politicians are taking the technology route to checkmate their political foes by keeping tabs on their daily messages, e-mails and even telephonic conversations by hacking into smartphones.
And the 150-odd professional hackers of the city are in great demand, with several hackers compelled to be part of this unholy alliance to hack computers and smartphones of rival party leaders.
Some politicians said they are extremely worried at the situation as well. “I have stopped replying to mails from my usual email Id from my phone and have started using only official mail to only contact my officers,” D Sridhar Babu, minister for civil supplies, told INN.
Offering anywhere from Rs 1 lakh and above, the usual “targets” have been approaching hackers to hack into MLAs, MPs and even some ministers smartphones, a few hackers told INN.
“These kind of enquiries are becoming common now, especially since elections are round the corner,” said N Nityanand, chief technology officer, Entersoft Information systems at Ameerpet. Nityanand, after a lot of persuasion said he was contacted at least half a dozen times by different political parties.
“I was asked whether I can hack into a top politician’s mail id and get access to his mails. The person also said that I will get whatever amount I demand. But I flatly refused these offers and politely told him that this is unethical and I cannot do it,” Nityanand added.
It takes a hacker close to a week or two at the most to prepare a special code and send it in the form of mail or an application link to the target. Once the link is clicked, or the application is downloaded, the hacker has complete control over the computer or smartphone.
Politicians clueless about technology: A mobile virus named NotCompatible, allows hackers to take complete control of a phone, and post malicious code on websites. Once this is done, hackers send out spam emails with links to the sites to trap an unsuspecting user.
“The people who generally approach us are the mediators of the political leaders who do not know much about technology,” said D Pradeep Kumar, CEO, Eagle Claw Consulting India Pvt Ltd.
“Though the ones who approached me did not reveal anything about who sent them, they just ask us to hack into smartphone of their rival politicians. They want to hear the conversations of their rivals and also get updated with whatever information the person is having on his phone.” Not stopping at that, politicians are also requesting to investigate an incident wherein the voter list of some people belonging to their party had disappeared from the data, some hackers said.
“There are black sheep everywhere and it is no secret that phones and computers of many politicians have been hacked. Since most of them are not well-versed with technology, they are clueless about someone gaining control over their personal information and data,” another hacker said. Politicians across the state privately said they were wary of the situation and were taking measures to prevent important information being leaked out of their phones.
Former IAS officer and Lok Satta party MLA Jaiprakash Narayan said this was bound to happen one day or the other. “This is happening because politicians in this state see elections as life and death question and are ready to do anything to win it,” he said.
There are others who said this trend was dangerous because this information can also be used to tarnish the image of politicians. “I have stopped discussing important issues on my phone altogether,” another local leader said.
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