Al Qaeda online targets Indian websites

[Guest guest]

Al Qaeda online targets Indian websites

Pramit Pal Chaudhuri

(New Delhi, October 23)

Pakistani and Arab hackers have banded together to wage Afghanistan's

war in cyberspace. Groups like GForce Pakistan and Pakistani Hackerz

Club have teamed up with Palestinian hackers like Dodi to form a two-

week-old Al Qaeda Alliance Online.

The alliance claimed its first Indian victims on Tuesday, defacing

zeenews.com and india-today.com. Earlier targets were a number of US

military websites. More is promised: "Indian atomic research and US

military and government should wait for their turn" was left on the

Zee site.

 

GForce says it has sensitive official Indian material such as "email

and facsimile correspondence between Ashok Sahu (of the Ministry of

Finance) and R. Chidambaram (of the Atomic Energy Commission)." The

group also said it had files of other ministries, Hindustan

Aeronautics and the Department of Atomic Energy and warned: "ISI has

showed interest."

 

Hacker activity often follows real political developments. Most

Pakistani groups were formed after Pokhran II. Kargil gave birth to a

few Indian hackers.

 

The Afghan conflict has inspired disparate Muslim hackers to combine

their political messages. Thus, GForce has included Palestine in its

normal Kashmir statements. K. Srijith of India Cracked, a site that

monitors anti-Indian hacking, says this is the first time Pakistani

groups like GForce and Pakistan Hackerz Club have joined hands.

 

"This is the era of cyberwarfare, where once again the Muslims have

prevailed. We will not rest till every node, every line, every bit of

information contained in our suppressors has not been wiped out,

returning them to the dark ages," said one Al Qaeda Online

defacement.

 

Technews.com reports that Yihat, a team of anti-terrorist hackers,

has begun hunting down Al Qaeda Online. Yihat dug up the real name of

Heataz, GForce's leader, and traced him to a Karachi online firm. It

then tipped off the FBI. Indian intelligence is believed to have

identified the well-known Pakistani hacker, Dr Nuker.

 

It is doubtful the technophobic Taliban would like pan-cyber

Islamicism. But hackers often sound confused. Antiindiacrew has

wrecked 10 Indian websites recently. At its last site, it posted a

diatribe against the Taliban and terrorism — and the "Indian

government".