The official website of India's Ministry of Defense appeared to be hacked in the afternoon of Friday, April 6. Within hours, the official website of the Ministry of Home Affairs went down.

According to the news agency ANI, a Chinese character was seen on the defense ministry website after it was hacked.

Ministry of Defence website hacked, Chinese characters appearing on the website home page. pic.twitter.com/VBzWXLC8EM — ANI (@ANI) April 6, 2018

A message on the hacked site said: "The website has encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later."

The website went offline soon after news of it being hacked emerged.

Nirmala Sitharaman responds

Within minutes of the hack coming to light, the official Twitter handle of the defense minister said the hack had been "taken note of," and that appropriate action had been initiated.

Issue with the MoD website ( https://t.co/JJawys4yoB ) has been taken note of. Appropriate action has been initiated. @nsitharaman — Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) April 6, 2018

Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted from her personal handle around half an hour after the hack came to light, saying: "Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website."

She added: "The website shall be restored shortly."

Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website ( https://t.co/7aEc779N2b ). The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken. @DefenceMinIndia @PIB_India @PIBHindi — Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) April 6, 2018

Home ministry site down

By Friday evening, even the Ministry of Home Affairs official website went down.

A message on the website said: "The site is currently not available due to technical problems. Please try again later. Thank you for your understanding."

These come less than three weeks after the official Twitter account of Air India was hacked.