The Malaysia-based hacktivist group DragonForce has launched a series of cyber attacks against the Indian government following recent remarks by suspended BJP spokesperson, Nupur Sharma, about Prophet Muhammad.
The hacking group has launched a campaign OpsPatuk which translates to “strike back”, against the Indian government. It is also seeking help from “Muslim Hackers From All Over The World, Human Rights Organizations, and Activists (sic)”.
Religiously and politically motivated campaigns, such as OpsPatuk, can result in a breach of some sensitive government websites containing Personal Identifiable Information (PII), military operations, and other government secrets, which, in the wrong hands, can enable targeted attacks on the country and its citizens.
Cyber experts predict that the intensity and volume of such attacks on Indian entities are only going to increase, and the government and enterprises should ensure adequate safety measures to secure their digital properties.
During the detailed investigation, CloudSEK discovered multiple threat actors participating in this operation and hacking various Indian websites.
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Websites Under Attack
The group has also shared evidence that they have hacked Indian government websites, such as indembassyisrael.gov.in, manage.gov.in, extensionmoocs.gov.in, cia.gov.in and cfa.gov.in, and others.
The organisation has published a list of websites that supporters and allies are encouraged to attack. This includes private Indian websites as well as many Indian government websites, such as those of logistics and supply-chain companies, educational institutions, technology and software companies, and web hosting providers.
WHAT IS DRAGONFORCE?
This cyber call-to-arms is the work of DragonForce Malaysia, a pro-Palestinian hacktivist group based in the country.
This organisation owns and operates a forum where it posts announcements and discusses its most recent actions. The group also has Instagram and Facebook profiles, as well as numerous Telegram channels.
The gang has been running frequent recruitment and promotion efforts using Tiktok and Instagram reels. Over 2.4 million people have viewed the posts calling for action against the Indian government.
DragonForce has previously been associated with Malaysian or Pakistani groups such as Revolution Pakistan, RileksCrew, T3DimensionMalaysia, UnitedMuslimCyberArmy, CodeNewbie, PhantomCrews, LocalhostMalaysia, HarimauMalayaCyberArmy, and GroupTempurRakyatMalaysia.
This operation has a high chance of gaining more support and attention from hacktivists around the world.