Researchers from the domestic cyber-security business CloudSEK have discovered a scheme by many hacktivist organizations from Pakistan and Indonesia to unleash cyberattacks on India as India prepared for the much awaited G20 Summit here in the capital over the weekend.
The government’s digital infrastructure has been identified by CloudSEK’s contextual AI digital risk platform, XVigil, as the main target of hacktivists.
This planned assault, dubbed as #OpIndia, is driven by a complicated web of political motivations, with many attacks seen as reprisal strikes in the continuing hacktivist battle between states. DDoS (distributed denial of service) assaults and mass defacement are expected to be the two main attack types in this campaign, the researchers stated.
On September 7, a hacktivist collective called Team Herox published a message on the encrypted messaging service Telegram, issuing the frightening call to action.
According to the researchers, “they sought assistance from other hacktivist organizations to join forces for a series of attacks scheduled for September 9–10, perfectly aligning with the G20 summit’s timeline.”
The hacktivist groups have previously planned assaults against both public and private Indian organizations using a variety of strategies, including DDoS attacks, account takeovers using stolen credentials, and data leaks.
“These hacktivists often use major political gatherings like the G20 Summit as a platform to acquire awareness, with the government’s digital infrastructure as one of their main targets. A vivid reminder of the digital challenges that countries confront is provided by the concerted efforts of hacktivist organizations from Pakistan and Indonesia to target India’s G20 Summit with planned assaults, according to Darshit Ashara, Head of Security Research and Threat Intelligence at CloudSEK.
Similar information was revealed by the researchers on a recent hacktivist effort that targeted over 1,000 Indian websites in August as part of their Independence Day campaign.
The campaign, which was run by hacktivist organizations from several nations, included strategies including DDoS assaults, defacement attacks, and user account takeovers, matching the trends already identified in CloudSEK’s research on hacktivist warfare.
The research also shows that hacktivist assaults significantly increased in the first quarter of 2023, with India emerging as the main target of attacks.
Ashara said, “Our objective is to stay ahead of these developing hazards and enable businesses and people to strengthen their digital defenses. To stop these nefarious acts, CloudSEK advised organizations and agencies to maintain their vigilance and strengthen their cybersecurity safeguards.