India thwarts Pakistan-based cyberattack; small-arms firing persists

The Indian military thwarted Pakistan-based cyber-attack attempts recently, officials said on Tuesday.

 

Operating under an internet moniker, a hacker group sought to deface pages, disrupt online services and harvest personal information of Indians, officials in the know but who didn’t wish to be identified, said. “Indian cyber-security detected the intrusions in real time and traced their origin to Pakistan.”

 

The officials said after the "Pakistan-based cyber actors" failed to hack into critical Indian networks, the group "redirected its efforts" towards publicly accessible welfare and educational websites of the armed forces. Intelligence assessments done in India confirmed four related incidents, the officials said.

 

Attempts were made ‘to breach’ the online databases of the Indian Army Welfare Housing Organisation, as well as “to compromise” the portal of the Indian Air Force Placement Organisation. The first is tasked with building houses for retired or serving personnel and the second helps retired officers get post-retirement jobs.

 

The websites of two Army public schools were targeted with inflammatory propaganda and one of the two schools saw its internet service denied briefly.

 

“All four sites were promptly isolated, and restorative action was immediately undertaken,” the officials said. “No operational or classified networks were affected at any stage.”

 

India and Pakistan continued to exchange fire across the Line of Control (LoC) for the fifth consecutive day. In a media statement, the Indian Army said on Tuesday, that during the intervening night of April 28-29, the “Pakistan Army resorted to unprovoked small-arms firing across the LoC, in areas opposite Kupwara and Baramulla districts, as well as the Akhnoor sector.” The “Indian Army responded in a measured and effective manner to the provocation”, the statement added.