India and Pakistan at war in cyber space ahead of Independence Day

Cyber nationalists from India and Pakistan are spoiling for a fight, after an anonymous hacker from India defaced Pakistan government website www.pakistan.gov.pk, weeks ahead of the two countries' independence days. Experts predict the attack on a Pakistani government website is bound to activate hackers from both the countries to try and breach each other's cyber space and over thousands of websites from both the countries face high risk of being hacked.

Indian hacker going by a cryptic name of -Ne0-h4ck3r had changed the Pakistani website by posting Indian national anthem and Independence Day greetings on its wall. The hacker posted Ashoka Chakra in Tricolour, along with Indian Independence Day message. Another message that was posted on the website read, "Freedom in the Mind, Faith in the words. Pride in our Souls. Let's salute those great men, who made this possible."

The message was followed by the Indian national anthem. Even though the website was quickly restored by the Pakistan's IT team, the move was claimed as a 'victory' by Indian cyber nationalists. The foreign office of the Pakistan in Islamabad has not reacted to the incident.

Experts say that August draws maximum hacking of websites in the south Asia as techies from both the countries put their skills and nationalistic fervour to test by hacking each other's websites. The activity is usually limited to one month alone but this year, the India hacker may have riled Pakistani cyber experts by hacking one of the biggest government websites.

Action reaction A response in equal measure is expected soon where, observers say, Pakistani hackers will try to target prominent and sensitive Indian government websites. In the past, state police websites have been defaced by Pakistani hackers where they posted anti-India comments with an image of the Pakistan flag.

"In almost ritualistic attacks, every year underground hacking communities from both the countries launch cyber attacks on each other, ahead of August 14 and 15, the Pakistani and Indian independence days respectively," said Kislay Choudhary, director of Indian Cyber Army.

Choudhary said as Indian hackers have attacked where it hurts the most by taking their most prominent government website, Pakistani hackers will respond in kind by targeting Indian government portals, possibly where Indian take much pride.

"Elsewhere, attackers may try to steal data or acquire digital warriors had crippled 30 Pakistan government websites earlier this year in virtual surgical strikes as protest against the neighbouring country's announcement of death penalty to former Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav.

Indian and Pakistani hackers also fought pitched battles in cyber space after last September's terrorist attack on a military camp in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri sector. complete control over the infected network. But in the case of India and Pakistan, it's more a display of power and skills. Most of these hackers are school and college students," said another cyber expert. This is not the first time when such an incident has taken place in Pakistan.

India's digital warriors had crippled 30 Pakistan government websites earlier this year in virtual surgical strikes as protest against the neighbouring country's announcement of death penalty to former Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav. Indian and Pakistani hackers also fought pitched battles in cyber space after last September's terrorist attack on a military camp in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri sector.