As per media reports, Delhi Police on Friday arrested two alleged pro-Pakistan Kashmiri hackers in Punjab who were involved in entrenching into over 500 Indian websites, including some government websites, police said.
The two, have been identified as Shahid Malla, 28, a B-Tech student and Adil Hussain Teli, 20, who is a BCA student in a Punjab-based university, said PS Kushwah, Deputy Commissioner of Police.(Special cell)
The two were apparently part of an “anti-national hacking group” called Team Hackers Third Eye and had allegedly broken into over 500 Indian websites, including that of J&K Bank in January this year, police said. They are being grilled on the identity of their associates in Pakistan and India.
Police also claimed they were linked with operatives of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency. An officer identified the Pakistani’s suspected to be in contact with Malla and Hussain as Faisal Afzal and Amir Muzaffar, who belong to the pro-Pak hacking group called Pak Cyber Attacker, or PCA. The group, based in Lahore and Dubai, is suspected to have hacked thousands of Indian websites since 2016.
Laptops, mobile phones, SIM cards, internet dongles and memory devices recovered from them will be examined by the Delhi Police in detail to ascertain their role in anti-state activities.
After receiving a tip-off about the suspects from a military intelligence unit, Delhi Police formed a special team led by additional DCP KPS Malhotra to gather information and track the suspects.
An intelligence source said that the two were found to be encouraging internet users of J&K to bypass the state imposed ban on social media by using means through which their online activities can not be traced.
According to previous reports, instances of Kashmiri youth misusing social media to allegedly threaten police and other government officials or run a ‘smear campaign’ against them had done the rounds which had forced the authorities to put a ban on social media in the state.
