How India thwarted almost 1.5M cyberattacks by Pak hackers
What's the story
After the Pahalgam terror attack, Maharashtra Police detected more than 1.5 million cyberattacks on Indian websites masterminded by Pakistan.
Seven Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups were found to behind these attacks, out of which only 150 were executed successfully.
This implies that less than 1% of these attacks were successful, PTI has reported. Let's see how they were thwarted.
Attack origins
Attacks linked to several regions
The cyberattacks were mainly traced back to Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the Middle East. An official from Maharashtra Police revealed that "the probe discovered that cyberattacks on (government websites in) India decreased after India-Pakistan ceased hostilities, but did not fully stop."
Methods
What tactics were used?
The cyberattack strategies involved malware distribution, GPS spoofing, DDoS assaults, and website defacement.
While most of these attacks were successfully thwarted, some did manage to hit India's critical infrastructure.
However, a senior official from Maharashtra Police denied claims that hackers had breached data from Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport or targeted the Election Commission website.
Removal
Over 5,000 cases of misinformation were also removed
Along with foiling the attacks, the cops also tracked down and removed over 5,000 instances of misinformation and fake news related to India-Pakistan military conflicts, being circulated on social media.
This proactive measure helped prevent the spread of false information during this period of heightened tension between the two nations.