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6 Times Indian Ethical Hackers Took Revenge from Pakistan
The long history and relationship of enmity and hostility between India and Pakistan are well-known. Since the early 2000s, the warfare has reached the digital space and hence, began the India-Pakistan cyberwarfare with a vicious cycle of cyber-attacks and breaches avenged with counter attacks, followed by more breaches. There have been both black hat and ethical Indian hackers at play. Black hat hackers have malicious intent and insinuate terrorism, so they should not be encouraged. We have put together 6 times when ethical Indian hackers took revenge from Pakistan:
Indian Cyber Army avenges the 26/11 attacks in 2010: The Indian Cyber Army is a group of ethical hackers, cybersecurity professionals and security analysts who work towards securing India’s digital and cyberspace. In November 2010 when India was shaken up by the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, this group launched a cyber-revenge on Pakistan by hacking and cutting out access to some important Pakistani Government websites.
Mallu Cyber Soldiers avenge the hacking of Kerala Government website in 2015: Mallu Cyber Warriors is a vigilante group of ethical hackers and cybersecurity experts from India who work towards protecting Indian websites from cyber-attacks and breaches while also helping breached websites recover by pointing out their vulnerabilities and ways to strengthen their cybersecurity measures. In 2015, Pakistani hackers breached into and hacked the Kerala Government’s website. The Mallu Cuber Warriors avenged this by hacking 40+ Pakistani websites including Government websites including pakistan.gov.pk, president.gov.pk, presidentofpakistan.gov.pk, railways.gov.pk and cabinet.gov.pk.
Mallu Cyber Soldiers avenge breaching of Kerala Social Security Mission Website in 2017: This vigilante group of ethical hackers and cybersecurity experts wreaked havoc in 2017 when an Indian NGO website was hacked by Pakistani hackers. The MCS group hacked into 200 Pakistani websites including prominent government websites, business websites, college websites and so on.
Mallu Cyber Soldiers avenge breaching of Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in 2016: Pakistani hacker group called ‘Kashmiri Cheetah’ breached into the website of Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in December 2016 and posted a message saying they are undefeatable and the best. MCS group retaliated by breaching into the Sialkot International Airport in Pakistan.
Justice for Kulbushan Jadhav in 2017: When Indian Navy Officer, Kulbushan Jadhav was unfairly given a death sentence on fictitious charges, Indian hackers retaliated by hacking several Pakistani Government websites and protested the injustice. Pakistani hackers responded by hacking several Indian University websites including Delhi University, Aligarh Muslim University, etc. and defaced the websites. This led Indian hackers to avenge this cyber-attack by breaching into nearly 500 Pakistani websites.
Mallu Cyber Soldiers avenge killing of 8-month old baby at the border in 2018: An 8-month old baby, Nitin Kumar, was shot and killed on the border by the Pakistani Army. To revenge Pakistan for his killing, Mallu Cyber Soldiers hacked a number of important Pakistani websites.
What do these cyber-attacks and breaches teach us?
The most important lesson is that Indian cyberspace, especially government websites and digital assets, are highly vulnerable and have face high cybersecurity risks and threats not only from Pakistan but several other notorious and malicious cybercrime syndicates, terrorist organizations, other countries, etc. The websites whether government departments or ministries, universities, airports, defense wing, etc. contain valuable and sensitive information and therefore, need the highest level of protection or else the nation and its citizens will be at a high risk of even physical and financial attacks. Indian businesses have been losing millions of dollars owing to weak cybersecurity measures and easily penetrable cyberspaces.
The country needs more qualified ethical hackers, penetration testers, security analysts and other cybersecurity personnel who can help the government as well as businesses to continuously identify vulnerabilities and gaps in their cybersecurity and rectify these immediately. There are a number of them available already, they need to be recognized and their expertise leveraged. Organizations and the Government need to understand the criticality of cybersecurity and accordingly, make investment from their end to improve the infrastructure and strategies. As this understanding is slowly but steadily happening, the demand for experts and accordingly, their salaries have increased worldwide.
Meeting the demand for cybersecurity specialists
There are globally recognized cybersecurity courses and certifications that give credibility, legitimacy, authority and a competitive advantage to the cybersecurity experts and IT professionals to practice as cybersecurity professionals, ethical hackers and penetration testers. The best cybersecurity courses have a holistic curriculum which equip learners with an in-depth understanding, skills, tools, techniques, tips and tricks to effectively work towards preventing cyber-attacks, detect potential threats, vulnerabilities and adversaries. The best cybersecurity courses cover a wide range of cyber adversaries and provides exposure to contemporary areas like IoT device security, cryptocurrencies, blockchain, penetration testing, etc. They incorporate a hands-on teaching methodology to ensure that the participants are able to apply their learnings practically in their work.
Cybersecurity courses are, therefore, an important part of the solution to tackling cyber warfare and cybersecurity threats.
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