New Delhi:

The alleged breach involves two significant targets, the Indian Military Engineering Service (MES) and the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). According to the post, the attackers may have accessed confidential details, including login credentials of defence personnel. That’s not all. The group also claimed it tried to deface the website of Armoured Vehicle Nigam Limited (AVNL), a defence PSU under the Ministry of Defence.

A fresh cyber scare has emerged after a group calling itself the “Pakistan Cyber Force” claimed to have broken into sensitive Indian defence-related systems. The group made the claim through its account @cyb67723 on X (formerly Twitter), triggering concerns of data leaks and growing cyber risks across military-linked platforms.

Website taken down after defacement attempt

The AVNL website was reportedly defaced with the Pakistan flag and an image of the Al Khalid battle tank, a visual used in the past by Pakistan-based hacking groups. As a safety measure, the entire website has been pulled offline.

Officials said this was to conduct a thorough audit and ensure there was no deeper damage or compromise of backend systems. A senior cyber response official noted the site was being checked for any embedded backdoors or unauthorised scripts before going live again.

Experts warn of Pakistan-linked attacks

Cybersecurity watchers say this isn’t an isolated incident. Threat actors possibly backed by Pakistan have consistently targeted India’s strategic and defence infrastructure, often launching phishing attacks or defacement campaigns on symbolic dates or following geopolitical tensions.

List of recent targets in the current breach

It’s not the first time such attacks have surfaced, and definitely won’t be the last. But the concern is clear, India’s defence-linked digital presence is now a regular target on the cyber battlefield, and the attackers are getting bolder.

So, how real is this cyber attack?

Whether this is part of a state-sponsored operation or a case of hacktivism is unclear. Hacktivism, short for hacker activism, refers to politically or ideologically motivated attacks, usually by individuals or loose collectives, who deface websites, leak information, or take down services to make a point or cause embarrassment. These actors may not always be backed by a government but still carry out targeted digital protests.

It’s also worth noting that website defacements are low-risk, low-impact compared to deeper cyber intrusions like data exfiltration or ransomware. In many cases, such sites don’t store sensitive or classified information. Defacing a public-facing PSU website may be flashy, but it doesn’t necessarily mean critical systems were compromised.

At this point, the authenticity of the leaked data shared by the so-called Pakistan Cyber Force hasn’t been verified by any Indian authority, yet. Cyber experts suggest this could also be older data from previously known breaches, being recycled to grab attention. This tactic isn’t new and is often used by threat groups to exaggerate their impact.

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