Assam Channel Hacked, Live Feed Replaced With Pak Flag, Hymn For Prophet

Time8 said the network has alerted authorities and filed a complaint with the Guwahati police. The complaint is currently being investigated.

The live broadcast of a popular online news channel in Assam was swapped with the image of a Pakistani flag, a hymn for Prophet Muhammad and tickers reading 'Respect Holy Prophet' in a cyberattack this week that appeared linked to the outcry over remarks by former BJP spokespersons about the Prophet.

A Pakistan-based hacking group 'Revolution PK' has been blamed for the cyberattack on the YouTube account of Time8, which is a digital news network based out of Assam with more than 7 million followers on different social media platforms and average monthly video views of over 600 million.

On June 9, during a live news stream, Time8's transmission was interrupted during a breaking news segment.

Utpal Kanta, founder and managing editor of Time8 Digital News Network, said, "The self-claimed Pakistani hacker group, Revolution PK, briefly hacked Time8 YouTube channel during the live stream and replaced the news broadcast with the Pakistani flag and ran 'Respect Holy Prophet' tickers. This is an act of cyberterrorism, and we condemn the incident in the strongest words and also express our concern over the matter, which relates to national security."