It was a day of flip-flops for the Digital India programme. Following
an online uproar over a Facebook post by Ankit Fadia, author and
self-proclaimed ethical hacker, that he had been appointed brand
ambassador of Digital India, the government denied any such move on
Tuesday morning only to change its mind and confirm the appointment by
evening.
Fadia's appointment had become a subject of discussion after he posted pictures of a July event on Digital India on social media on Monday, announcing that he had been picked as one of the brand ambassadors. Many from the tech community on Twitter reacted with surprise. Some rubbished his claims of being an "ethical hacker." Others said his books were plagiarized; he has written 16 of them. In 2012, an annual security convention held in the US, DEF CON had termed him "Security Charlatan of the Year".
At 9am on Tuesday , the Centre denied any report of such appointment with a release. But soon after, that release could not be accessed on the PIB website. The release said: "There were certain news reports that there is a move to appoint a brand ambassador for Digital India programme. This is to clarify there has been no such move to appoint a brand ambassador as reported." has a screenshot of the now unavailable announcement.
Finally, around 6pm, the Union ministry of communications and IT acknowledged the appointment of Fadia along with three others. "As part of the Digital India week (July 1-7, 2015), the following four brand ambassadors were nominated for a period of one year to propagate the product and applications being launched by the department under Digital India," the release read, naming IIT-JEE toppers Krati Tiwari and Satwat Jagwani, US-based computer scientist and researcher Pranav Mistry and Fadia.
Coimbatore-born Fadia first shot to fame as a 14-yearold after he wrote a book on what he called "ethical hacking". He also claimed to have been sought out by US intelligence agencies to help them with cyber attacks. He later also got a TV show with a popular music channel. The Mumbai based techie also offers his own "ethical hacking" training and certification programme. His detractors, though, question his claims. In a telephonic conversation with from Dubai on Monday night, he dismissed criticism of his work.He said, "I never claimed to be the best hacker in the world.I've got a contract for another six books with a publisher.Wouldn't they do their due diligence in such a case?"
Fadia's appointment had become a subject of discussion after he posted pictures of a July event on Digital India on social media on Monday, announcing that he had been picked as one of the brand ambassadors. Many from the tech community on Twitter reacted with surprise. Some rubbished his claims of being an "ethical hacker." Others said his books were plagiarized; he has written 16 of them. In 2012, an annual security convention held in the US, DEF CON had termed him "Security Charlatan of the Year".
At 9am on Tuesday , the Centre denied any report of such appointment with a release. But soon after, that release could not be accessed on the PIB website. The release said: "There were certain news reports that there is a move to appoint a brand ambassador for Digital India programme. This is to clarify there has been no such move to appoint a brand ambassador as reported." has a screenshot of the now unavailable announcement.
Finally, around 6pm, the Union ministry of communications and IT acknowledged the appointment of Fadia along with three others. "As part of the Digital India week (July 1-7, 2015), the following four brand ambassadors were nominated for a period of one year to propagate the product and applications being launched by the department under Digital India," the release read, naming IIT-JEE toppers Krati Tiwari and Satwat Jagwani, US-based computer scientist and researcher Pranav Mistry and Fadia.
Coimbatore-born Fadia first shot to fame as a 14-yearold after he wrote a book on what he called "ethical hacking". He also claimed to have been sought out by US intelligence agencies to help them with cyber attacks. He later also got a TV show with a popular music channel. The Mumbai based techie also offers his own "ethical hacking" training and certification programme. His detractors, though, question his claims. In a telephonic conversation with from Dubai on Monday night, he dismissed criticism of his work.He said, "I never claimed to be the best hacker in the world.I've got a contract for another six books with a publisher.Wouldn't they do their due diligence in such a case?"
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