Hackers hit two Indian sites.Infosys..... [Archive]

Dhurandhar Bhat

May 9th, 2001, 11:18 AM

May 7 — Hackers have infiltrated two Web sites in India, disrupting a software company's site and leaving anti-India messages on a government Web page. It's unclear whether the two incidents are related.

PRO-PAKISTAN HACKERS infiltrated a Web site of India’s External Affairs Ministry and posted anti-India messages, the Press Trust of India said on Monday.

INFOSYS HACKED
Infosys Technologies Ltd, one of India’s biggest software companies, said on Monday computer hackers had also infiltrated its Web site and disrupted its banking products site.

echarcha

May 9th, 2001, 01:44 PM

NEW DELHI: Its unofficial codename is e-Supari. Stung by a spate of hacker attacks on Indian websites, the government and corporate India have decided to jointly wage a war against hackers. The fact that many of the latter belong to a self-styled ``G-Force'' - comprising the Pakistani diaspora - only adds fuel to the fire.

Remember, 162 Indian websites have been hacked in 2001 so far, compared with 72 last year. No wonder, "friendly" desi hackers are passionately joining the project.

"In the recent spate of hack attacks on the Indian sites, we could identify the source - whether it came from Pakistan Kashmir or The Philippines. We have the capability of sending lethal worms into Pakistani websites without leaving our footprints," said a professional hacker employed in a professional consultancy firm.

The government-constituted task force on cyber security which met last month to discuss ways to beef up their security has joined hands with corporate bodies to fight hackers, especially Pak-based Net infiltrators. ``It is not attack for attack's sake. It is just to convey our message that we can also do it,'' said a government task force member. The morale of the Indian government is down, especially after the MEA site was attacked.

"We have been psychologically affected by Pak hack attacks. We have decided to unlock source codes of Pakistani websites," claimed a professional day-time hacker at an e-Security firm.

Taking the lead are 12 and 14-year-olds, with support from professional hackers employed by corporate India to safeguard their internal networking system. ``A large number of Indian websites were just defaced by Pakistani hackers. We have the potential to show how lethal our hack attack can be,'' said 14-year-old Advesh (name changed).

A skilled VSNL password stealer, Advesh was reformed by late Nasscom President Dewang Mehta to become a passionate hacker. In other words, he was trained to protect websites of national importance.

But what is increasingly realised by India Inc is that how exposed Indian websites are when it comes to security. ``Your job is not over if you have just installed anti-virus programmes,'' HCL Comnet president Vineet Nayar told The Times of India.

"Global companies are strengthening their websites by appointing consultants to hack in. If they are open to attack, companies harden their security mechanism," he said. "Whether hacker attacks are from Pakistan or within India what we are seeing are just trailers. It is better to turn our concentration on safeguarding our system,'' Nayar added.

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