Indian hackers deface Pakistani websites after massive Republic Day cyber-attack

It’s becoming a bit of an annual ritual now; Pakistani hackers deface Indian websites and Indian hackers hit back.

This year too leading up to and on Republic Day, a massive number of Indian websites were attacked and defaced by Pakistani hackers. In response, Indian hackers broke into more than 100 Pakistani websites yesterday. Sources in the Global Cyber Security Response Team (GCSRT) in Bangalore told The Hindu that the seemingly retaliatory attacks are expected to continue. The attacks are signed by the ‘Indian Cyber Rakshak’ with the affected sites displayed the group’s message “Hacked by Indian Cyber Rakshak”.

On Republic Day, Pakistani hackers defaced 2,118 Indian websites, including those of the Central Bank of India and the website of model-turned-actress Poonam Pandey. Her website fell victim to a group calling itself ‘Team Madleets’ and it had graffiti left behind that displayed messages such as “Pakistan Zindabad.”

Cyber security experts told the paper that some hackers who broke into the Indian websites have been identified, though only by their hacker names. These include “StrikerRude”, “KashmirCyberArmy”, “PakCyber Expert”, “HUnter Gujar”. The operation, if one can call it that, was called “#OP26jan”. The January 26 attack came two weeks after 1,400 other Indian websites had been hacked, the sources said.

Hitting back at Pakistani sites seems like exactly the kind of response one would expect from hackers. Though one can’t help but shake the feeling that there’s little point in this altercation beyond showing off. Instead, perhaps Indian hackers should consider using their “mad skills” to help keep websites from getting hacked into in the first place. Surely that would be of greater help to the sites affected.