Hackers come up with Allahabad University's fake, identical website

Updated on: Friday, July 29, 2011

For the second time, the official website of the Allahabad University has been hacked. The fake website having the domain name www.allduniv.info bears an identical resemblance to AU's official website www.allduniv.ac.in.

This fake website registered in May 2010, uses an old image of the official website. Many links pertaining to the records of AU, are non-operational, but the fake website has the VCs' message, history of the university, telephone directory of different officials and people associated with its functioning be it former president of the student unions or the members of the different bodies.

Apart from these, there are hyperlinks to Air India, BSNL, UGC and similar websites, which are functioning through this fake website.

However, even after much developments, the university is simply waiting for a disaster to happen, as it is yet to register an FIR in this matter.

Speaking to TOI, chief proctor, Prof Jata Shankar said, "Although the matter pertains to cyber crime, we would certainly lodge an FIR and make the fake website non-functional as soon as possible."

In October 2009, varsity officials came across a fake site with domain name www.universityofallahabad.org. And, it took more than a year for the varsity authorities to make the website non-functional.

The said website was brought to the notice, when a candidate submitted some of his academic details to this fake site, accessed results of some AU courses given on it and grew suspicious. The website had all the ingredients of giving it a genuine look. Besides using the AU's name, it had put original pictures of the university buildings on it to give it an authentic look and even gave its own email address on it.

Reacting to the development, Prof R R Tiwari, senior faculty member of the department of Electronics and Communication, AU, who is also the incharge of AU's official website said, "We have found that the said fake website was registered by someone named Ramlal Yadav, who created the website on May 4, 2010 and has mentioned his address as street Varanasi and city Allahabad. The e-mail of the individual is [email protected], who has updated the website on May 11, 2011 and the same would expire on May 4, 2013."

"Now that the fake website has been brought to our notice, AU would be doing the needful to make the fake website non-functional as soon as possible," Tiwari said, and added, "I would move a proposal to the AU authorities for registering all the available domains familiar to the word Allahabad University, so that similar cases of fake website does not come again."

Times of India

Hackers come up with Allahabad University's fake, identical website

More Education news