After surgical strikes, Pakistani hackers attack Indian websites with profanities, claim 'revenge'

Seven terror launch pads were targeted across the LoC by special forces of the Indian Army during the surgical strikes on 29 September. A week after the attack, various Indian websites faced cyber attacks by Pakistani hackers. The hackers claim that the attacks were an act of “revenge” against the Indian Army’s surgical strikes across the Line of Control. On 3 October, the National Green Tribunal’s website came under attack with a group hacking it and posting profanities, claiming it was an act of “revenge”, reported PTI. “We are Unbeatable. You… kill innocent people in Kashmir and call your self defenders of your country. You…violate the ceasefire on border and call it ‘Surgical Strikes’. Now kiss the burn of Cyber War,” the hackers said in the post replete with expletives. [caption id=“attachment_3035408” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Thinkstock[/caption] The hack was noticed around 7.15 pm on Monday. This was the second time after 2013 that the website has been hacked. A day after the incident with the National Green Tribunal, another group hacked the website of a university and posted “Pakistan Zindabad” slogan on it. Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean studies (KUFOS) authorities said they filed a complaint with the cyber cell of the state police after the incident was noticed. “Given the serious nature of the incident, we immediately alerted the security agencies. They had posted ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogan on our website,” the university’s registrar VM Victor George said. According to a report by The Times of India, a group of Pakistani hackers have claimed that they have hacked 7,070 Indian websites and released a list of names early on Tuesday. The cyber security specialists told The Times of India that the hackers are not experts, but are ‘script kiddies’ who don’t write their own code, while hacking websites. The report suggested that the group has in the past hacked websites of Tata Motors, AIADMK and Taj Mahal, and on Tuesday, said that “there is more to come.” Another report by the The Times of India suggested that on Tuesday, Pakistani hackers tapped into the frequency on which pilots of Indian carriers landing into airports close to the LoC — Jammu and Thoise Air Force base — operate and blocked communication. The hackers then started transmitting Pakistani patriotic songs on the same frequency, which then played out in the cockpits. This hampered the landing process for these pilots who found the songs irritating. Counter-attack by India To counter these cyber strikes, an Indian cyber security organisation has claimed that they have entered Pakistan’s critical infrastructure systems (including the country’s defence infrastructure) and would be prepared to destroy the system if the need arose, reported The Hindu. A top official from the organisation claimed that they are waiting for a go-ahead from the Indian government. “We have entered the critical infrastructure of Pakistan. The moment we get the go-ahead, we will destroy these,” said S Amar Prasad Reddy, Additional Director- General, National Cyber Safety and Security Standards, while addressing a conference at the Anna University in Chennai. Cyber war between the hackers of the two nations is not new. ‘Vulnerable’ government sites from both sides have been hacked in the past. With inputs from agencies