Problems seem to be increasing for Pakistan with each passing day. After facing global isolation for its pro-terror activities and remaining in denial on the Indian Army’s surgical strikes in its territory, the troubled country now finds itself dealing with another sticky situation.
According to a Mail Today report, Indian hackers have breached into the Pakistani government network, locking their computers and data. The hackers are believed to have laid siege to Pakistani web sites that include those of its education department as well as those of government tenders.
Unable to handle the problem, Pakistani techies even offered to pay Bitcoins to Indian hackers to unlock their systems. However, in a sign of loyalty towards their nation, the Indian hackers rejected the offer and kept the Pakistani sites under their control.
The cyber-attack by India seems to be a counter to Pakistani hackers who defaced Indian sites and circulated videos that say India’s recent surgical strike in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) was fake.
Angered over Pakistan’s malicious propaganda and cyber attack, the Indian hackers deployed Ransomware to lock the network in the neighbouring country.
Experts in India have identified one of the hackers, who is a member of Telangana cyber warrior, who are hired by Telangana Information Technology department to deal with cyber security issues for the government and private sectors
They asserted that Indian hackers hacked Pakistani government network after thousands of Indian websites were hacked by techies from the neighbourhood country.
“To unlock their data, techies from Pakistan also paid in Bitcoins but 'patriotic' Indians refused to give away the decrypt key to unlock the data. Pakistani officials have been asked to pay the amount again to unlock,” a hacker was quoted by Mail Today as saying.
The report also quoted sources who claimed that Indian hackers are ready to launch a massive cyber attack capable of wreaking havoc in Pakistan’s cyber space.
They, however, warned of similar attacks by Pakistani hackers as a counter to their move.
Meanwhile, Indian agencies are on alert to make sure that no data is lost in the cyber war.
On the other hand, experts also believe that hackers are not just defacing the sites but also spying into critical networks which may have serious consequences.
Pakistan Haxors Crew, a group of Pakistani hackers, has reportedly claimed that it had defaced 7,051 Indian websites after Indian Army carried out ‘surgical strikes’ on terror launch pads in PoK.
Prominent websites among those hacked include the official website of the National Green Tribunal (www.greentribunal.gov.in) and Bihar State Electronics Development Corporation (www.biharonline.gov.in.).
“Indian hackers just responded after smelling the malicious intention of Pakistani hackers. Techies across the border targeted Indian sites. They are also trying to circulate fake links and videos claiming that India never carried out surgical strike,” said Kislay Chaudhary, a cyber crime expert.
The cyber experts believe that if Indian hackers want, they can easily destroy the Pakistani cyber space.
Security officials said that many Pakistani accounts have become active after the ‘surgical strikes’ and are being used for expanding the terror network.
The report quoted one of the Indian hackers who said that it took them three months to hack the Pakistani network and they now have over 100 computers under their control.
