NEW DELHI: At the start of 2025, following a high-level meeting in the national Capital, Indian Intelligence agencies had signalled that going into the future, New Delhi's major concerns on the security front would be cybercrime. While cybercrime has always been a threat to the security of the nation, the agencies have smelt a DeskRAT and have been picking up a new trend.
Hackers from Pakistan, China and other countries have ramped up operations and have been targeting both financial institutions and the military. This is part of the psy-ops that Pakistan has launched and the larger aim is to embarrass the military and hurt the Indian economy. The Indian agencies have been picking up a new trend in the manner that these criminals have been operating.
The change in trend was noticed when the protests broke out in Sri Lanka. When a neighbouring nation is in trouble there is always a high alert. The stress the security agencies go through at that time is what the hackers take advantage of. At such a time, the hackers are aware that some officers may make a mistake by opening up emails that are marked 'urgent'.
These emails marked 'urgent' contain files which once opened can take over the system. Once these attachments are opened, then the hackers get to withdraw operational documents, and strategic plans. There are times when such a spyware sits in the system for weeks. Until it is detected, the hackers have complete access to the system.
The same modus operandi was used when protests broke out in Bangladesh and then Nepal. Investigations revealed that these operations are carried out using a spyware called DeskRAT. Further, the recent incidents have been traced to a Pakistan-based group called Transparent Tribe.
The spyware has been designed in such a way that it specifically targets the Boss Linux systems. These operating systems are widely used in Indian government offices. Further the spyware operates with stealth, thus making detection very difficult. (IANS)
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