BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh cyber cell headquarters has asked all print and television media in the state to conduct an immediate security audit of their portals following intelligence inputs that Pakistani hackers may try to take down their websites to flash the Pakistani flag on August 15.
This is being done to ‘avenge’ similar alleged attempts by Indian cyber hackers in 2015, 2017 and 2020, say sources in intelligence agencies. These skirmishes are part of a defacement war in cyber space that has been on between hackers of the two countries for over a decade, they say.
“We have issued an advisory to media houses to secure their portals against any possible hacking attempt. They have been asked to establish a physical firewall in their network with secure access. They have also been advised to reset their passwords,” state cyber chief Yogesh Chaudhary told TOI.
On August 14, 2015, a group calling themselves the ‘Hell Shield Hackers’ claimed to have taken down around 100 Pakistani business websites as a “tribute to the Indian jawan”.
Cyber cops warn against new wave of ‘hacktivism’
They said it was payback for the hacking of many Indian sites by Pakistan hackers to mark Pakistan’s Independence Day on August 14.
Two years later, on the same day, a group of Indian cyber hackers allegedly took down over 500 Pakistani websites, including some major government ones, and posted pro-India content, said sources in the intelligence agencies.
In 2020, over 80 Pakistani websites were hacked and the Indian Tricolour was flashed on them. Some major Pakistani news channels said their websites had been hacked as well. “After a hack attack, the channel started broadcasting the Indian flag along with the message ‘Happy Independence Day’.
The Indian flag and the text appeared on a commercial running on screen, which remained for some time and then disappeared,” said an official release by one of the leading Pakistani news channels in 2020. Intel officers refer to this cyber war as ‘Hacktivism’, saying these cyberattacks are fueled by an ideology which is intended at taking over government or media websites and posting defacing messages on them to embarrass rival targets.
