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The website of Kirori Mal College (KMC) was hacked for the second time this year on Sunday, 25th August 2019. Read on to find out more.

Hacking College websites has now become a recurring phenomenon. Almost every year India experiences the hacking of the websites of educational institutions at a concerning rate. In the past, websites of many institutions like IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, Jamia Malia Islamia, and Aligarh Muslim University have been hacked.

This time yet again, the official website of Kirori Mal College was targeted, which was dismaying for the portal committee and the administration of the college.

The website was defaced by messages like “Hacked by Dark Knight” and “we all stand for the secular and liberal ideology of DU”, calling out the members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for how they may “forcefully install Sarvakar’s bust in the campus but cannot bring it into our hearts”. It further said how deeply painful it is to see the way the Delhi University Students’ Union elections take place and asked the student fraternity to rise against corruption and violence, accusing political parties of bribing college students with “movie tickets” in exchange for votes.

ggg — Image Caption: A hacker by the name of Dark_Knight hacked KMC’s Website Image Credits: Aashish Jain

According to Atithi, a student from KMC, “The college website getting hacked twice in a row is a matter of concern for the college administration as it shows a lack of vigilance and carelessness on their part. It affects us too. A lot of valuable information and other data is uploaded on the website, the credibility of which will be questioned; appropriate and quick action needs to be taken so that such things are not repeated in future”

Anujriti Painuli, another student from the College, stated, “The Dark Knight named hacker who got into the website proved the inefficiency of website, which is not up to the mark for such a reputed college.” She also added that the person has particularly targeted the ruling party, accusing them of being biased towards a single community

Students strongly believe that this act of outrageous and irrational behavior is purely a manifestation of unhealthy competition on political grounds. This is a sensitive time for the College website since the process of admission is going on with cut-offs still being released and the new students refer to the website for information regarding time tables and societies.

Feature Image Credits: Shiksha

Avni Dhawan

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On Sunday, the official website of Kirori Mal College was hacked.

Hacking of college websites has now become a pan-university phenomenon. Almost on a monthly basis, instances of college websites being hacked are heard of. The recent hack of the UPSC Website saw the set-up of a new benchmark in the field of unethical-hacking. It seems as if the hackers are on a get-set-hack spree, smiting college-after college. This time, they made the official website of Kirori Mal College, (KMC), their victim.

It was observed on Sunday, September 30, 2018, by some college students that a clumsy notice had been uploaded in the News&Information section of the website. The notice, which seemed highly unprofessional in its language, accused the college student fraternity of accepting bribes during the elections, and that this shall have humongous long term implications. It requested the student fraternity to rise up against corruption in the elections and accused other political parties in the college student union frame of offering “Movie Tickets” in exchange for votes. The notice implored the students to rise up against this activity and proclaim power over their union.

Prima facie, it seems that this has happened in connection to the recent political scenario in the college, where the students in the college were actually offered Free Movie Tickets to shows at Amba Cinema for the movie “STRI”, and the same front emerged victorious in the College Student Union Elections.

According to Shivam, a student from KMC, who wants his course and other relevant details to reamin hidden- “This is obviously something that involves high skill and knowledge pertaining to computers. We had a candidate during the college student union elections who is from the Political Science Department, and has developed the college application as well. This candidate lost the elections to the post of the college president. Hence, it is almost sure that it is him who has done this.”

Although this gives a particular direction to the story, there are also counter-allegations from the supporters of the particular candidate. According to Kuldeep, another student from KMC, “All of this has been done to tarnish the image of our candidate. It is something that has been thought all the way through with profound attention to detail. They know that our candidate shall be the primary suspect, because of his computer based skills. Hence, this is being done post elections to highlight the false statement. Our candidate is a true Kirorian, he would never engage in anything so unethical and disproportionate to his character.”

This incident, apparently, has led to bifurcation of the college fraternity into two fronts. While the administrative investigation is under process, the security layering of the website has been scrutinised, all the loop holes removed and security tightened up to prevent any such incident in the future.

Feature Image Credits – KMC students

Aashish Jain

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