Hackers invade IRCTC site Free online tools, software and add-ons help confirm tatkal tickets during vacations

Hackers invade IRCTC site

Free online tools, software and add-ons help confirm tatkal tickets during vacations

Summer vacations are here and everyone wants a confirmed railway ticket by hook or by crook. The growing demand for confirmed tickets has resulted in various forms of Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) website hacking scripts and codes getting popular. In addition, free online tools, software and add-ons provide new ways to confirm tatkal tickets. Software professionals say it is easy to hack into the IRCTC website because it is “poorly scripted, terribly slow, totally compromised and hacked by touts and agents in sync with booking agents and higher-ups”. “There are scripts and source codes that allow you to bypass the official way,” said a source. “There are also add-ons that can be downloaded to enter the site and get a confirmed ticket. Most of these add-ons are available for free. There are also a few dedicated blogs and groups in public domain that keep providing new ways of hacking into the website.” Inspections have found that there were irregularities in ticket bookings before and beyond official working hours. All tatkal quota tickets were booked within a few minutes of the opening of reservation. “The system is susceptible to being abused by booking clerks, agents and touts through manual intervention in the system,” a recent official audit report had said. In March, the CBI busted a multi-crore railway ticket booking scam at Wadala where the accused used more than 100 bogus personal user IDs with the railway’s proprietary software to book confirmed tickets en masse, seconds after bookings would open at 8am, depriving genuine commuters of tickets. IRCTC joint general manager Pradip Kundu told DNA from New Delhi that it is a continuous process to keep the website guarded from such tools and devices. “There is a multi-point plan in place to curb such malpractices. We have a strong in-house team and also take help from industry professionals and have put various measures in place.”