GUWAHATI, Jan 3 � At least half a dozen websites in Assam were defaced by hackers apparently originating from neighbouring country Pakistan in the last 48 hours, raising an unprecedented fear of an intensified cyber war in the region.
The websites that were hacked and defaced include those belonging to educational institutes and trading companies operating in Assam, sending cyber security experts into a tizzy.
Security sources, while confirming the latest development in the cyber space, said some �pro Pakistani� groups of hackers even went on to mask the home pages of a number of websites with threat/hate messages. �We cannot reveal names of all the hacked websites at this moment,� sources added.
The threat message in one the hacked websites in Assam now read as, �This website is hacked by Faisal 1337. Respect Pakistan and Pakistanis you D grade people. Otherwise you will pay for this. We protect, we destroy. We are Pak Teen Leets (www.faisal1337.com) Pakistan Zindabad�.
Pak Teen Leets is reportedly a Pakistan-based hacker community which had even hacked the official website of the world famous Meenakshi temple located in Karnataka recently.
The group is said to be behind defacing of the official website of the Grijananda Chowdhury Institute of Management and Technology (GIMT) located at Azara, besides a number of other websites.
The official website of GIMT was masked with threats and warnings from the group. It also contained names of persons who had supposedly hacked the website.
However, later, the website was shut down for maintenance by the authority concerned.
Besides, the website of Oye, an online trading firm, was also hacked by elements originating from Pakistan and more such reports are emerging from various parts of Assam, security sources informed.
Although no official complaint has been lodged with the Assam Police till the time of filing this report, sources said experts are working on it.
�Reports of a number of websites being hacked are pouring in from different parts of the State and we are keeping a close tab on the developments in the cyber space. There are enough grounds to believe that the hackers are operating from the neighbouring country or at the behest of some anti-national forces. As there are also chances of proxy servers being used, details cannot be shared at this moment,� an Assam Police official told this reporter.
