What the HAL: Chopper site hacked

The website of Helicopter Academy to Train by Simulation of Flying (HATSOFF) has become the latest Indian defence website to be hacked.

The Bangalore-based HATSOFF is a joint venture owned equally by defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and CAE, a Canadian manufacturer of simulation technologies.

The website www.hatsoff-training.com has been hacked by hackers claiming to be Code Breaker (Prince Attitude) and team cyber warriors. Further, the website has been defaced with pro-Pakistan slogans.

The hacking of the website, which reportedly happened a couple of days ago, was brought to the notice of HAL and HATSOFF by dna on Wednesday morning. An HAL official said that HATSOFF has taken serious note of the hacking incident. He said that apart from restoring the site, the helicopter training academy will lodge a complaint with the Cyber Crime Police.

“Apart from hacking the website, the hackers have given an anti-India tone by posting messages like Pakistan Zindabad. A complaint would be lodged with the Cyber Crime Police to trace the hackers and ensure that such incidents don’t reoccur,” he said.

Officials added that no data has been accessed of HATSOFF or HAL as the two have different IT domains and different departments to maintain and monitor their websites. HATSOFF offers simulator training on Bell 412, Eurocopter Dauphin, and civil, conventional variant of the HAL Dhruv helicopters.

Apart from civil pilots, several helicopter pilots from the Indian Air Force, army and paramilitary forces, like the BSF and Coast Guard, have undergone simulation-based training, which also includes weapon and tactical training.