From Celebrations to Cyberattacks: Hacktivism Incidents Erupt Amid Independence Day Celebrations

August marks the Independence Day celebrations in both India and Pakistan, as both countries were bifurcated into two independent nations in 1947. While the story of their common roots and divergent paths after all these years is worth exploring in another article, their national/independence days have particularly witnessed unprovoked cross-border firing between the armies of the two nations across their shared border, a fact that hacktivists have recently used as an opportunity to target the digital infrastructure of both countries.

Traditionally, these cyberattacks range from distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, website defacements, and exaggerated open-source data releases to gain notoriety and tarnish the reputation of organizations. But over the years, hacktivists have refined their approach using advanced botnet tools and pose a significant threat.

As in previous years, Cyble Vision began detecting indicators of this digital flag among hacktivist groups at midnight on August 14. These groups have so far claimed to have targeted more than 100 websites in independent attacks.

• Team Azrael – The Angel of Death
• Pakistan team is crazy
• SILENT CYBER FORCE
• Moroccan soldiers
• Moroccan Cybernetic Black Army
• ANONYMOUS BANGLADESH

Figure 1:Excerpt from Cyble Vision highlighting hacktivism incidents targeting India

The infamous pro-Pakistani hacker group, Team Insane Pakistan, even announced a “#OpIndia” campaign to target Indian entities.

Figure 2: Announcing OpIndia Campaign by Team Insane Pakistan

As another hacktivist group joined the initial incursion, pro-Palestinian hacktivist group Team Azrael, ‘Angel of Death’ claimed to have targeted the email server of a Rajasthan state government department by posting a video of the compromised email panel and illegally sending phishing emails.

Figure 3:Indian State Government Department Targeted by Azrael Team

Similarly, they released several other videos targeting local news channels in the state of Punjab, a government department of the Tamil Nadu government and documents relating to a major Indian public sector unit in defence production.

Figure 4: Screenshots from videos posted by Team Azrael

Hacktivist group SILENT CYBER FORCE has claimed to have DDoS attacked 25 Indian websites and leaked the username and password of one of the websites for other cyber actors to gain illicit access to it.

Figure 5:Several Indian websites targeted by SILENT CYBER FORCE

Other hacktivist groups like Moroccan Soldiers and Moroccan Black Cyber ​​Army have posted hate messages claiming to have defaced several Indian websites of educational institutes, travel portals and entertainment websites.

Figure 6:Several Indian websites defaced by hacktivists

A pro-Bangladeshi hacker group, “THE ANONYMOUS BANGLADESH”, targeted an Indian legal association and provided illicit access to a backdoor shell with modified credentials so that other attackers could access the compromised web panel.

Figure 7: Excerpt from the message of the Telegram channel of The Anonymous Bangladesh

The natural response to hacktivism by Islamist or anti-Indian actors in the past has been to provoke anger and retaliation from hacktivist groups sympathetic to Israel and India. Anonymous Israel, a pro-Israel group that broke its silence and inactivity of over a year since April 2023, announced a retaliatory campaign called “#PAYBACK 2024” in collaboration with pro-Indian hacktivists to target entities in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, and Palestine.

Figure 8:Pro-Israel Hacktivist Groups Announce “PAYBACK 2024” Retaliation Campaign

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