India and Pakistan continue to squabble over Kashmir. Both the countries tend to be good friends but are mostly seen in battlefields against each other. At the borders or in the game of cricket, they are historic rivals. And with the world shifting towards digitalisation, their war has also gone digital.
Yes, the cyber war between these two neighbouring countries seems to have begun.
On Saturday, September 26, a Pakistani hacker Faisal Afzal aka 'Faisal 1337' hacked the official website of Kerala Government, kerala.gov.in.
Reportedly, the text on the homepage at that moment read: "Official website of the RC Office, Govt of Kerala — New Delhi Hacked! Pakistan Zindabad." Also mentioned below was, "We Are Team Pak Cyber Attacker. Security is just an illusion". The hacker also mentioned about his attack on his Facebook Page
In few minutes, the news spread like wild fire all over social media. It was not a question about a government website or an Indian website being hacked, but a full-fledged cyber attack on India by a Pakistani hacker!
Within a few hours, an Indian hacking group returned the favour. 'The Mallu Cyber Soldiers' claimed responsibility of the retaliation. It announced that over 100 Pakistani websites were hacked, as payback to the Pakistani hack of the Kerala Government's website.
They also posted a message on their Facebook Page, "!!Message to Script Kiddies of Pakistan ….Do not touch Indian Websites !!! Now your 46 Pakistan government websites got crashed and 4 educational websites got defaced. This is a small payback for hacking kerala.gov.in. Faisal 1337 go home kiddo, you are F*ucked."
The group went on to share the list of the websites hacked. Few included Pakistan's government website Pakistan.gov.pk, and cabinet.gov.pk.
But the 'cyber-war' didn't end there. In the same Pastebin message, the group 'Hell Shield Hackers' stated that the motive behind this attack a payback against the attack on the Kerala government website.
"Indian Hackers haven't hacked a single Pakistani site after August 15, 2015. But Faisal Afzal hacked kerala.gov.in .. Dude? We are not sleeping. If you even touch a Indian site, we will crush you up.. :3. Now feel the heat pakistan.gov.pk hacked," the group said.
However, the governments of both the nations remained tight-lipped. According to reports, the unofficial ‘cyber war’ between the two countries had actually began in 2010 and is waged by patriotic hackers on both sides, every day.
The Times Of India report quoted Kerala's IT mission director K Mohammed Y Safirulla said the government was worried over a possible backlash following the afternoon's developments. "I met the principal secretary and discussed the issue. Officials concerned have been asked to stay vigilant," he said.
Just like in field wars, hackers, who are the real soldiers in cyber wars, see retaliation as a sign of winning or revenge. However, we wonder when this digital war would come to an end?
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