Cuttack, Sept. 19: The website of the alumni of Ravenshaw University was hacked twice in 10 days raising concerns over its poor security features.
The link to the webpage for Ravenshaw alumni ( www.ravenshawalumi.org) was connected to the official website of the university - www.ravenshawuniversity.ac.in. It is suspected the hackers can get through the security features of the official website as well.
However, the university authorities said the official website of the university was "secure" and the hacked alumni website has been closed to secure the data in the server.
"The alumni website had developed some errors because of spamming which was rectified last week. However, three days ago, we found that the page had been hacked," said the co-ordinator of the Ravenshaw alumni association, Sangita Rath.
Rath said: "Yesterday we found out that visitors to the webpage were being redirected to another website in the name of Ravenshaw offering online courses."
It is now suspected that a fake website could be providing certificates for online or distant education using the name of Ravenshaw University.
In October 13, 2015, fake certificates of Ravenshaw University were found during physical verification of certificates. A person from Mumbai with a bachelor's degree in commerce from Ravenshaw University had come for a counter signature on his certificate. Authorities found that the certificate issued to him in the name of the university was not original. The man said he received the certificate after registering himself for an online course on www.ravenshawuniversity.com. He said he had paid about Rs 50,000 for the course.
"We have closed the alumni website to secure the data. The site will be reopened once the security features are tightened," said Manas Rout, a senior faculty member of the IT department of Ravenshaw University.
Rout said the official website of Ravenshaw University was secured as SSL certified software with an integrated site lock security key and other security features were set up in the website.
The Ravenshaw Alumni webpage was created to provide a communication platform to the university graduates. Besides, the website acted as a database of old students of the university. So far, 2,500 alumni have registered themselves on the website. Official sources said the Ravenshaw University authorities planned to make it mandatory for all students to register on the alumni website after they complete their courses from the university.
"We have taken all possible security measures to protect the data on our official website. The alumni association webpage was hacked as it lacked proper security. We have asked the officials to upgrade the security features," said vice-chancellor of the varsity Prakash Chandra Sarangi.
