In recent years, cyber espionage seems to be becoming a tool that is seriously used by nefarious organizations as well as individuals around the globe. Recently, it has been discovered that a number of malware attacks have been launched on Pakistani systems from India.
There is nothing to suggest that these attacks are state-sponsored, but they have continued for a period of three years. In other words, the attacks are part of a long-term and sophisticated cyber espionage attempt and can’t be waved off as hacking attempts by amateurs.
The chief purpose of the whole operation is apparently to gather detailed information on the national security targets. To gather such information, the hackers of this operation have relied on known vulnerabilities in different Microsoft software. These vulnerabilities were exploited to gain access to different machines around Pakistan and gather intel.
An interesting thing about this discovery is that the name of a certain ‘Appin Security Group’ has been found to be somehow linked to the hackers. Apparently, all the domains that were being used to launch the attacks on Pakistani cyber space were registered in Appin’s name.
Appin, on the other hand, has vehemently denied any kind of involvement in the attack. However, the company failed to explain as to why it’s name has been found to be linked to the infrastructure used by the hackers. Appin further cited that it will launch legal proceedings against such entities who are trying to malign it through false implication.
Courtesy: The Hacker News
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