Pakistan’s desperate cyber provocations: repeated hacking attempts foiled by India

NEW DELHI: In a continued wave of cyber offensives, Pakistan-sponsored hacker groups such as “Cyber Group HOAX1337” and “National Cyber Crew” made unsuccessful attempts to breach some websites yesterday. These hacking efforts were promptly identified and neutralised by cybersecurity agencies.

Among the latest provocations, the websites of Army Public School Nagrota and Sunjuwan were targeted and attempted to be defaced with messages mocking the victims of the recent Pahalgam terror attack. In another incident, a website catering to ex-servicemen’s healthcare services was defaced, signalling Pakistan’s growing frustration.

There have been repeated attempts made by hackers operating from Pakistan to attack websites having linkages to children, old age veterans and other innocent people. Resorting to attacking veterans’ and families’ platforms reflects another low by Pakistan and their continuous attempts to operate in unethical ways.

The hacking of the Army Institute of Hotel Management’s website and Indian Air Force veterans further illustrates the Pakistani establishment’s intent to provoke and escalate tensions in the digital battlespace.

Earlier on April 29, Pakistan redirected its efforts towards publicly accessible welfare and educational websites after finding mission-critical national networks impenetrable. Operating under the moniker “IOK Hacker” – Internet of Khilafah, the group sought to deface pages, disrupt online services and harvest personal information. India’s layered cybersecurity architecture detected the intrusions in real-time and quickly traced their origin to Pakistan.

Intelligence assessments confirmed four related incidents. The websites of Army Public School (APS) Srinagar and APS Ranikhet were both targeted with inflammatory propaganda. APS Srinagar also faced a distributed-denial-of-service assault.

An attempted breach of the Army Welfare Housing Organisation (AWHO) database was likewise detected, while a concurrent effort was made to compromise the Indian Air Force Placement Organisation portal.

All four sites were promptly isolated, and restorative action was undertaken; no operational or classified networks were affected at any stage.

These brazen cyberattacks are part of a broader pattern of provocation by Pakistan, which has long employed terrorism and information warfare against India. It appears that Pakistan is testing India’s restraint and patience.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Army resorted to unprovoked small arms firing across the Line of Control for the eighth day of the night of May 1 and the early hours of May 2. Indian Army has effectively responded to the unprovoked firing in areas opposite Kupwara, Baramulla, and Poonch districts, as well as in the Naushera and Akhnoor sectors in Jammu and Kashmir (J-K). The firing started on April 25 days after the Pahalgam Terror attack in which 26 tourists were killed.

According to the Indian Army, the troops responded in a calibrated and proportionate manner to the unprovoked small arms firing by the Pakistan Army. (ANI)