Thiruvananthapuram: The official website of the Kerala government's General Administration Department was hacked on Sunday, with a Pakistani flag and a message claiming responsibility for the attack posted on the site, officials said.

The hackers, identifying themselves as "Team Blackleets", claimed to be from Pakistan and posted a slogan hailing the country.

"We are Pakistani hackers. Every day, many websites have been hacked; today is your day," the message read.

The breach was detected in the morning, following which the hosting provider suspended the account, officials said.

A cyber team is investigating the incident to determine whether any data was compromised. The website will be restored after security checks are completed, officials said.

The department is also preparing to report the incident to the cyber police and file a formal complaint, they added.

The Kerala State IT Mission manages key state government websites and e-governance programmes.

A similar incident was reported in September 2015, when the official Kerala government website, kerala.gov.in, was hacked by a group claiming to be the Pakistan Cyber Army.

The website's homepage was defaced with an image of the Indian national flag being burned and messages including "Pakistan Zindabad" and "Security is just an illusion". The website was subsequently taken offline for maintenance, and the cyber police launched an investigation.

Earlier in April 2015, the Kochi Metro Rail website was also reportedly hacked, with anti-Israel messages posted on it. The incident was reported months before the attack on the Kerala government's official website.