Ankit Fadia Explained

Birth Place:Ahmedabad, India
Occupation:Author & Hacker
Alma Mater:D Public School
Genre:Technology, entertainer
Notableworks:FASTER: 100 Ways To Improve Your Digital life
SOCIAL: 50 Ways To Improve Your Professional Life
Ankit Fadia

Ankit Fadia (born 1985)[1] is an Indian self-proclaimed white-hat computer hacker, author, and television host. He is considered to be a security charlatan.[2] [3] His work mostly involves OS and networking tips and tricks and proxy websites.[4] [5] [6]

A number of his claims regarding his achievements have been disputed by others within the security industry, and he was mocked with a "Security Charlatan of the Year" award at DEF CON 20 in 2012. Attrition.org also reviewed his claimed credentials and included him on their Security Charlatans list, calling into question the veracity of his marketing statements. He has been accused of plagiarism in his work.[7] His claims of hacking feats have since been discredited by many magazines.[8] [9] [10]

Early life

At the age of 10, his parents gifted him a computer and he says he started taking an interest in hacking after a year of playing video games when he read a newspaper article on the subject.[11] [12] He soon started a website hackingtruths.box.sk where he wrote hacking tutorials, which acquired many readers and encouraged him to write a book.[11] [13] [14] [15] The book received favourable responses in India, making Fadia popular in the country, and turned his hobby into a full-time profession. However, he was also accused of plagiarism.

Career

He continued to produce more books about computer security, and spoke at several seminars across schools and colleges in India.[16] In addition, he started providing his own computer security courses, such as the "Ankit Fadia Certified Ethical Hacker" programme.[17]

In 2009, Fadia stated that he was working in New York as an Internet security expert for "prestigious companies".[18] Fadia also endorsed the Flying Machine jeans brand of Arvind Mills.[19]

Fadia was dismissed by security and cryptography enthusiasts as a 'faker' making tall claims, who attributed his success to the tech-illiterate media.[20] A security professional, who uses the handle @FakeAnkitFadia on Twitter, told The Sunday Guardian, "The first book that Fadia 'wrote' at the age of 14, The Unofficial Guide to Ethical Hacking, was a little over 32% plagiarised from other security publications and websites."[21] Fadia has dismissed the critics who question his credibility as an expert, saying "If I had been fake, my growth would have stopped 10 years ago".[22]

Debunked hacking claims

In 2002, Fadia claimed that at the age of 17, he had defaced the website of an Indian magazine.[13] Subsequently, he named the magazine as the Indian edition of CHIP magazine, and stated that the editor had offered him a job when informed about the defacement.[23] In 2012, the Forbes India executive editor Charles Assisi (who was editor of CHIP India at the time of the supposed incident), denied that such an incident ever took place after verifying with his predecessor and successor at the magazine as well.[24]

In a 2002 interview published on rediff.com, he stated that at the age of 16, he foiled an attempt by the Kashmiri separatist hackers to deface an Indian website.[11] He stated he gathered information about the attackers, eavesdropped on their online chat using one of their identities, and then mailed the transcript to a US spy organisation that had hired him.[25] He did not divulge the name of the organization he worked for, citing security reasons.[13] The Pakistani hacker group Anti-India Crew (AIC) questioned Fadia's claims: along with WFD, the AIC hacked the Indian government website epfindia.gov.in, dedicating it to Fadia, mocking his capabilities.[26] AIC also announced that it would be defacing the website of the CBEC within the next two days, and challenged Fadia to prevent it by patching the vulnerability but Fadia couldn't.[27]

In 2003, he claimed to have infiltrated a group of hackers and stated that the Pakistani intelligence agencies were paying "westerners" to deface Indian websites with anti-India or pro-Pakistan content.[21]

His own website has been hacked multiple times.[20] In 2009, he blamed the defacement on a vulnerability in the servers of his webhost net4india. Independent security experts contested his claim, stating that the problem was a loophole in his own website's code. His website was hacked by an Indian hacker Himanshu Sharma, where he accepted the challenge from Ankit Fadia.[28] In 2012, his website was defaced twice by hackers. In the first instance, the hackers rubbished his claims and stated that he was fooling people.[29] Another hacker compromised it in response to a challenge that was issued by Fadia on the Tech Toyz show on CNBC-TV18.[30]

In 2012, DEF CON awarded him with the "Security Charlatan of the Year" award[31] citing him to be a fraudster and his presentations outdated. The website attrition.org mentions him as a security charlatan[32] and accuses him of plagiarism in his work.

During September 2015, his official Facebook page posted a certificate which claimed that Fadia was appointed as the brand ambassador for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet project, the Digital India Initiative. The government had then announced that it would pluck out young tech entrepreneurs to be its brand ambassadors which included the ilk of Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal of Flipkart, Snapdeal's Kunal Bahl and Micromax's Rahul Sharma.[33] According to a report in India Today, government sources said there is "No such move to appoint a brand ambassador as reported".[34]

Television and web shows

In 2008 he started a television show on MTV India called MTV What the Hack!, which he co-hosted with José Covaco. In October 2009 MTV India announced the launch of Fadia's new TV show on MTV, where Fadia gave tips on how to make use of the Internet, and answered people's questions.[35] Internet users could email their problems to MTV India and Fadia gave them a solution on the show.[36]

In 2012, Dell India partnered with Ankit Fadia to create a series of nearly 50 videos, each of 1 minute duration to show tips and tricks for the use of computers and mobile phones. These videos were shown on the Dell India Facebook page with an average of one video per week. People also had the opportunity to ask tech queries of Fadia on topics like photography, video making, music composing, navigation assistance, gaming, messaging and others.[37] [38]

In 2013, Ankit Fadia started a YouTube show Geek on the Loose, in collaboration with PING networks where he shared technology-related tips, tricks and apps.[39] The show was based on situations mentioned in his book FASTER: 100 Ways To Improve Your Digital Life.[40] The show has got more than 750,000+ views on YouTube.[41]

Awards and recognition

Apart from aforementioned positive endorsements, Fadia's fabricated hacking claims garnered him some negative criticism too. He was nominated among the list of security charlatans in 2012. He was eventually awarded the same.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: FADIA, Ankit 1985– . . 21 September 2012.
  2. Web site: Moe . Benjamin . A murky vendetta against a discredited ethical hacker . 2022-03-29 . The Caravan . en.
  3. Web site: Daniyal . Shoaib . Ankit Fadia's biggest hack: Getting Modi government to make him a brand ambassador . 2022-03-29 . Scroll.in . en-US.
  4. Web site: 'How to live... 'appily' ever after' . The Times of India. 18 September 2014.
  5. News: Inside account . Priyadarshini Pandey . 26 February 2013 . 14 November 2009 . The Hindu . Chennai, India.
  6. News: Ankit Fadia: Everything official about him. 6 December 2006. . 3 September 2001.
  7. Web site: Errata: Ankit Fadia – "Unofficial Guide to Ethical Hacking" 32% Plagiarized . attrition.org . 19 September 2015.
  8. Web site: Ethical hacker Ankit Fadia is a fake. Sunday Guardian. 19 September 2015. 7 December 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211207024031/http://www.sunday-guardian.com/investigation/ethical-hacker-ankit-fadia-is-a-fake. dead.
  9. Web site: Shunol Doke . Ankit Fadia's website hacked again – Tech2 . 18 September 2012 . 29 March 2016 . 9 March 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180309001804/http://tech.firstpost.com/news-analysis/ankit-fadias-website-hacked-again-41559.html . dead .
  10. Web site: Forbes India Magazine – Ankit Fadia Revealed . forbesindia.com . 19 September 2015 . 23 August 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220823013900/https://www.forbesindia.com/article/beyond-business/ankit-fadia-revealed/34793/0 . dead .
  11. Web site: Rediff Guide to the Net: Features: 16-year-old hacker Ankit Fadia outsmarts Kashmiri separatists . Rediff.com. 18 April 2002 . 26 February 2013.
  12. Web site: Success Decoded . https://web.archive.org/web/20140122172830/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1140112/jsp/graphiti/17757828.jsp . dead . 22 January 2014 . The Telegraph. 21 September 2014.
  13. News: 17 April 2002 . Indian hacker turns cyber cop . BBC News . 26 February 2013.
  14. News: E2 labs to combat cyber crime in Hyderabad . 19 April 2003 . Business Line . 19 December 2006 .
  15. News: Teen hacker who is sought after by FBI . 13 April 2003 . Manoj Kumar . The Tribune, Chandigarh . 19 August 2006 .
  16. News: Caught in the web . K. Jeshi . The Hindu . 3 July 2010 . 1 March 2013 . Chennai, India.
  17. News: The inheritance of food . https://web.archive.org/web/20070208051625/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070204/asp/calcutta/story_7327984.asp . dead . 8 February 2007 . The Telegraph . 4 February 2007 . 1 March 2013 .
  18. News: How the hack he does it! . https://web.archive.org/web/20130501010452/http://www.hindu.com/mp/2009/11/16/stories/2009111650950300.htm . dead . 1 May 2013 . 16 November 2009 . 1 March 2013 . . Chennai, India.
  19. News: Flying Machine endorsement: Ethical Hacker Fadia replaces Abhishek Bacchan . 21 October 2012 . 1 March 2013 . . Ratna Bhushan .
  20. News: Ethical hacker Ankit Fadia is a fake . 19 February 2012 . 26 February 2013 . The Sunday Guardian . Shubhankar Adhikari . 7 December 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211207024031/http://www.sunday-guardian.com/investigation/ethical-hacker-ankit-fadia-is-a-fake . dead .
  21. News: Hacktivism through the eyes of an infiltrator . Suelette Dreyfus . 5 August 2003 . 26 February 2013 . The Sydney Morning Herald.
  22. News: A clean hacker. Rana Siddiqui Zaman. 22 January 2010. The Hindu. Chennai, India.
  23. News: Inside Account . Priyadarshini Paitandy . 14 September 2009 . 1 March 2013 . Chennai, India . The Hindu.
  24. Web site: Ankit Fadia Revealed. Charles Assissi. Forbes India. 27 February 2013. 27 February 2013. 23 August 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220823013900/https://www.forbesindia.com/article/beyond-business/ankit-fadia-revealed/34793/0. dead.
  25. News: Teen helping adults fight 'bad guys' . M. Krishnamoorthy . . 27 February 2005 . 26 February 2013 .
  26. News: This hacker has a different message . K. Srinivas Reddy . 28 April 2002 . 26 February 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081221233959/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/04/28/stories/2002042800921000.htm . 21 December 2008 . live . . Chennai, India.
  27. News: Hacker threat to CBEC website . K. Srinivas Reddy . 30 April 2002 . 26 February 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081221234004/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/04/30/stories/2002043002271300.htm . 21 December 2008 . live . . Chennai, India.
  28. Web site: Is Ankit Fadia selling Viagra? . MiD DAY . 8 December 2009 . 26 February 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20091213004836/http://www.mid-day.com/news/2009/dec/081209-ankit-fadia-hacker-hacked.htm . 13 December 2009 . live.
  29. Web site: Ankit Fadia's Website Suspended After Being Defaced . Softpedia . Eduard Kovacs . 12 September 2012 . 26 February 2013 .
  30. Web site: Tech Toyz Hacking Special Episode Part III. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211214/a93qi17GqMU . 2021-12-14 . live. . 10 August 2011.
  31. DEFCON 20: DC RECOGNIZE Awards. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211214/GIzvTwFwaYI . 2021-12-14 . live. 16 November 2012. YouTube. 28 September 2015.
  32. Web site: attrition.org Errata – Charlatans. attrition.org. 19 September 2015.
  33. Web site: Ankit Fadia: Claims to be appointed brand ambassador of Digital India, Government denies. 29 September 2015.
  34. Web site: Govt tries to clarify Ankit Fadia not a Digital India ambassador, adds to confusion. 29 September 2015.
  35. Web site: From this Diwali, MTV will be more than just music – Money – DNA . Daily News and Analysis . 12 October 2009 . 8 January 2012.
  36. Web site: VJs, Music, Videos, Blogs, Games, Wallpapers, Interviews, Performances, Shows, Fun and more. MTV India. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20091121015512/http://www.mtvindia.com/news/news.php?id=3419. 21 November 2009.
  37. Web site: Dell India in association with Ankit Fadia presents "Unzipped: By Dell and Ankit Fadia . India Infoline News Service . 21 September 2012.
  38. Web site: Dell India in association with Ankit Fadia presents "Unzipped: By Dell and Ankit Fadia . EFYTimes.com . 21 September 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150205230534/http://efytimes.com/e1/95718/Dell-India-In-Association-With-Ankit-Fadia-Presents-Unzipped-By-Dell-And-Ankit-Fadia . 5 February 2015 . dead .
  39. Web site: Short-cuts for the tech savvy . https://web.archive.org/web/20150205114626/http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/Short-cuts-for-the-tech-savvy/2013/07/18/article1688412.ece . dead . 5 February 2015 . The New Indian Express . 21 September 2012.
  40. Web site: Ankit Fadia aims at stretching technology limits . https://web.archive.org/web/20131107233826/http://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/books/ankit-fadia-aims-at-stretching-technology-limits/article1-1108564.aspx . dead . 7 November 2013 . Hindustan Times. 21 September 2012.
  41. Web site: Geek on the Loose. YouTube .
  42. Web site: Media Release IT Leader Awards 2012 . Singapore Computer Society . 23 September 2014.
  43. http://www.cmaievents.com/awardees2011.php The CMAI 5th National Awards
  44. Web site: Ankit FadiaWorld Economic Forum: Global Shapers . World Economic Forum . 23 September 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150205121332/http://www.globalshapers.org/shapers/ankit-fadia . 5 February 2015 . dead .
  45. Web site: Ankit Fadia's biggest hack: Getting Modi government to make him a brand ambassador. Daniyal. Shoaib. Scroll.in. en-US. 26 February 2019.
  46. http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=128306 Clarification on Appointment of Brand Ambassadors

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