Man arrested in Karwar for hacking movie review app.

Pune: The Cyber Crime Cell of Pune police on Friday arrested a Karnataka-based hacker who had hacked the movie review application of a Pune-based start-up called Podium Systems Private Limited.

The hacker not only did financial damage to the company, but also sent obscene and threatening messages to its clients. A case in this regard was registered at Chatuhshrungi police station, after which the Cyber Crime Cell was taken into the loop.

The accused was identified as Rahul Hariharan, a native of Ernakulam in Kerala. He was studying at College of Forestry in Karwar district of Karnataka.

The Cyber Crime Cell said Hariharan was arrested from the hostel room of his college in Sirsi, Karwar. The police recovered two cell phones from him which were used in the crime. During interrogation, it was revealed that after installing 'Review Dede', the movie review app, in his cellphone, the accused found out vulnerabilities in the app by using a third party vulnerability software. He discovered that the encryption data of 'Review Dede' was not secure, because of which he was able to see all transactions in the back-end data sever of the app.

After hacking the app, Hariharan got access to vouchers worth Rs 2.5 lakh and used vouchers amounting to Rs 9,000. He sent obscene and threatening messages to the app's users. Initial investigations were done by the CEO of the company Vaibhav Bhargav before filing the official complaint. The police initially filed a complaint against one Vivek Rajole, but during investigation, it was discovered that Hariharan was the culprit.