Issue with the MoD website ( https://t.co/JJawys4yoB ) has been taken note of. Appropriate action has been initiated. @nsitharaman — Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) 1523014240000

Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website ( https://t.co/7aEc779N2b ). The website shall be restored sho… https://t.co/MtKTKnxZKu — Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) 1523015217000

(With inputs from agencies)

Law ministry website.

Home ministry website.

Labour ministry website.

NEW DELHI: India's cyber security chief on Friday cited "hardware failure" as the reason for several government websites facing downtime, rejecting reports of cyber attacks."There has been no cyber attack on any government website or any sabotage. It is a hardware failure, affecting around 10 government websites. Drupal is a content management software used by the affected websites. The websites will be restored soon," national cyber security coordinator Gulshan Rai told TOI.Several government websites were today affected by purported incidents of hacking, including and starting with the website of the ministry of defence .Upon visiting, the website displayed an 'error' message and asked users to 'try again later'.The site also began to display - what news agencies called - a 'Chinese' character.Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman took to Twitter to say that "appropriate action" had been initiated in the matter. She added that steps would be taken to "prevent any such eventuality in the future.""We are seized of the matter. The National Informatics Centre, which maintains the website, is trying to restore it," a ministry spokesperson said.An official said Chinese hackers may be involved in defacing the website, reported PTI.Hours after the incident, however, the National Informatics Centre (NIC) denied reports of a hack, instead terming the matter a "technical issue," reported ANI." Ministry of Defence website is not hacked. There is some technical issue since 2:30pm today," it said.Later, within several minutes of the alleged attack on the defence ministry site, the websites of the ministries of law, home affairs and labour were also down.The home ministry denied its website had been hacked.An officer told TOI that the website was sorting some storage issues.An official spokesperson said the NIC, which hosts the MHA site, is upgrading the security system of the website leading to its temporary suspension, reported PTI.The website was temporarily taken down as an extra precaution in the backdrop of the 'hacking' of the defence ministry site, he added.