Chhattisgarh hacker left in lurch by intel agencies

Bhopal: A cybersecurity expert, who had helped intelligence agencies avert some major Naxal attacks by keeping tabs on Maoists and their urban networks, has been dumped by them, when he sought an appreciation letter from them to start a career in the field. The 27-year-old youth had helped various intelligence agencies hack into social media accounts of some Maoist leaders, leading security forces to identify them and also nip in bud some major operations by the outlawed CPI (Maoist) in insurgency-hit Bastar. The youth from Chhattisgarh had received threat calls from insurgents after they learnt about the hacking of their social media accounts by him. According to him, he sought an appreciation letter from agencies, which included Chhattisgarh police, ATS, IB and even the NIA, to start a career in cybersecurity. “They went back on their promise to issue me an appreciation letter. The Prime Minister’s Office asked the state government to look into my matter after I took the issue to them. But, nothing has happened”, the youth told this newspaper on Tuesday.