May 25, 2020, Kathmandu

No Backing Off: Nepal-India Cyberwar Might Get Uglier, Shaurya Kshatri, The Himalayan Times

On May 24, a hacker took down the website of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) and placed an Indian flag along with a message on its home page.

The hacker’s message read, “Just because we are silent and we don’t react doesn’t mean didn’t notice.”

This is one of the few instances of the recent Nepal-India cyberwar. This past month has witnessed a barrage of cyber-attacks between unidentified hacker groups of Nepal and India. The back-and-forth digital skirmishing has been called cyber warfare supposedly orchestrated by cyber extortionists of the two sovereign nations after Nepal released a new political and administrative map incorporating Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh, and Kalapani. It all began when an Indian hacking group called ‘Indian Cyber Troops’ defaced the dprobanke website, a government website run by the Botanical Research Centre in Banke with the message: ‘Don’t mess with Indians!’

In retaliation hacker groups of Nepal were quick to make their moves where a hacker called ‘SATAN’ divulged fabric’s API Key of ABP News. Then an anonymous Nepal-based hacker by the alias Omsec5 claimed to have hacked HDFC Bank’s data while also leaking over 2,000 Aadhar card details of Indian nationals. Thankfully, though, as per ICT Frame, a cyberspace-oriented magazine, which has been reporting on cyber crimes and cyber security in Nepal, the Indian Cyber Troops, via their social media handle did try to bury the hatchet. The group’s Facebook post dated May 22: “We’ve talked to Nepali hackers and now we are going to stop attacks. We are brothers. Establish peace,” ending with #JaiHind and #Jai_Nepal.

For more details: https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/no-backing-off/