Pakistan hacker attacked govt computer in India to steal credentials
New Delhi
04-December-2021

PHOTO: IANS
A Pakistani threat actor successfully socially engineered a number of ministries in Afghanistan and shared government computer in India to steal sensitive Google, Twitter, and Facebook credentials from its targets and stealthily obtained access to government portals, The Hacker News reported.
"The lures used by SideCopy APT are usually archive files that have embedded one of these files: LNK, Microsoft Publisher or Trojanized Applications," Malwarebytes researcher Hossein Jazi said, adding the embedded files are tailored to target government and military officials based in Afghanistan and India, the report said.
The revelation comes close on the heels of disclosures that Meta took steps to block malicious activities carried out by the group on its platform by using romantic lures to compromise individuals with ties to the Afghan government, military, and law enforcement in Kabul.
Some of the prominent attacks were waged against personnel associated with the Administration Office of the President (AOP) of Afghanistan as well as the Ministry of Foreign affairs, Ministry of Finance, and the National Procurement Authority, resulting in the theft of social media passwords and password-protected documents. SideCopy also broke into a shared computer in India and harvested credentials from government and education services.
In addition, the actor is said to have siphoned several Microsoft Office documents, including names, numbers, and email addresses of officials and databases containing information related to identity cards, diplomatic visas, and asset registrations from the Afghan government websites, all of which are expected to be used as future decoys or to fuel further attacks against the individuals themselves, the report added. -IANS
More Headlines
AI Cybersecurity Startup Neural Defend Raises $600K in Pre-Seed Round
Chennai Doctor and Family Found Dead Amid ₹5 Crore Business Loss
Karnataka Withdraws CID Probe in Ranya Rao Gold Smuggling Case
New Kerala Guv Strikes Cordial Tone, Hosts CM Vijayan And FM Sitharaman In Delhi
Digital Payments Surge in India: 18,120 Crore Transactions in FY24-25
AI Cybersecurity Startup Neural Defend Raises $600K in Pre-Seed Round
Chennai Doctor and Family Found Dead Amid ₹5 Crore Business Loss
Karnataka Withdraws CID Probe in Ranya Rao Gold Smuggling Case
New Kerala Guv Strikes Cordial Tone, Hosts CM Vijayan And FM Sitharaman In Delhi
Digital Payments Surge in India: 18,120 Crore Transactions in FY24-25