Tag Archive for: Retaliate

Counter CyberAttack: Indian Hackers Retaliate, Paralyze 10 Pakistani Embassy Sites in Worldwide DDoS Drama!


This massive online assault was not a standalone event but a counter attack. It was the Kerela Cyber Xtractors’ robust response to the recent DDoS attack launched by a Pakistani hacktivist group, Team Insane PK, that targeted 23 Indian State Police websites.

Updated May 18, 2023 | 12:49 PM IST

Global Cyber Showdown: Indian Hacktivists Strike Back, Neutralizing 10 Pakistani Embassy Websites!

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

  • Indian Hacktivist Retaliation Cripples 1 Pakistani Embassy Websites in a Global DDoS Attack!
  • Rise of the Cyber Guardians – Indian Hacking Groups Fight Back to Defend National Cyber Space!
  • Night of the Cyber Blitz – DDoS Attack Renders Government Websites Inaccessible, Disrupting Public Services!
Just as the clock struck midnight on May 18th, a high-voltage wave of cyber warfare shook the digital world. In a daring act of retaliation, Indian hacktivist group Kerela Cyber Xtractors claimed responsibility for successfully taking down a total of 10 Pakistani Embassy websites across the globe. The impacted nations included India, France, Germany, and Kazakhstan, leaving a significant imprint on the digital map.

The Silent Art of War – Understanding DDoS

For the uninitiated, a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal functioning of a network, service, or website by overwhelming it with a flood of internet traffic. Imagine trying to get a sip of water from a fire hydrant. That’s how overwhelming a DDoS attack can be for a server. It is like being stuck in an ever-growing traffic jam, leading to a gridlock of services.

The Counterblow – A Call to Digital Arms

This massive online assault was not a standalone event but a counter attack. It was the Kerela Cyber Xtractors‘ robust response to the recent DDoS attack launched by a Pakistani hacktivist group, Team Insane PK, that targeted 23 Indian State Police websites.

List of Attacked Websites:

Kerala Cyber Xtractors Official Post

  1. Pakmissionfrankfurt.de
  2. pakconsulatela.org
  3. pakconsulateist.com
  4. pakistanconsulatehouston.org
  5. pakembsofia.gov.pk
  6. pakembparis.com
  7. pakembassyankara.com
  8. pakvienna.at
  9. pakhcnewdelhi.org.pk
  10. pakembkazakhstan.org

Downed Websites: A Digital Catastrophe

While it might seem like an online…

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Proposed ‘Hack-Back’ Bill Tells DHS To Study Allowing Companies To Retaliate – Breaking Defense Breaking Defense


A new bill could be the first step in companies being able to “hack back” at bad actors – but doing so could come with major risks, experts say. (File)

WASHINGTON: Two members of the Senate Finance Committee have introduced a bipartisan bill that instructs the Department of Homeland Security to study the “potential consequences and benefits” of allowing private companies to hack back following cyberattacks.

Sens. Steve Daines, R- Mont., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., have introduced the legislation as frustration over repeated cyberattacks against US companies has led to growing calls across the national security community and the private sector for retaliatory actions. Some, including military legal advisors, are now calling for the US to revisit its policy on military offensive cyber operations, especially in response to increasing ransomware attacks targeting the public and private sectors.

The draft Study on Cyber-Attack Response Options Act tells DHS to study “amend[ing] section 1030 of title 18, United States Code (commonly known as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act), to allow private entities to take proportional actions in response to an unlawful network breach, subject to oversight and regulation by a designated Federal agency.”

DHS’s report would provide recommendations to Congress on the “potential impact to national security and foreign affairs.” Specifically, the report would address the following issues:

  • Which federal agency or agencies would authorize “proportional actions by private entities;”
  • Level of certainty in attribution needed to authorize such acts;
  • Who would be allowed to conduct such operations and under what circumstances;
  • Which types of actions would be permissible; and
  • Required safeguards to be in place.

“The Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack shows why we should explore a regulated process for companies to respond when they’re targets,” Whitehouse said in a statement to Breaking Defense. “This bill will help us determine whether that process could deter and respond to future attacks, and what guidelines American businesses should follow.” (A request for comment to Daines’s office was not returned by…

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Should the U.S. Retaliate for Russia’s Big Hack?


The Russian hack of SolarWinds—which affected at least 18,000 of the firm’s customers, including several federal agencies—has revived a long, unsettled debate in national security circles: When Americans are hit with a massive cyberattack, should the U.S. government strike back?



Vladimir Putin wearing a suit and tie: Russian President Vladimir Putin in the town of Sarov outside Nizhny Novgorod on Nov. 26. Alexey Nikolsky/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images


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Russian President Vladimir Putin in the town of Sarov outside Nizhny Novgorod on Nov. 26. Alexey Nikolsky/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images

At first glance, the answer seems obvious: Of course, we should strike back—an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth—or how else will we deter the hackers, and others like them, from striking again?

On reflection, though, the question turns more complicated. Compared with the rest of the world, the United States, in all aspects of its life, is much more thoroughly connected to computer networks. We have the most powerful and precise cyber rocks to throw at other countries’ windows—but we live in a much glassier house. Therefore, retaliation could spark counter-retaliation, and, at each cycle of escalation, we could get hurt more badly than our adversary does.

Nevertheless, even some experts who have urged caution and taken note of our hypervulnerability are now saying that we have to do something. One of them, Richard Clarke, cybersecurity chief in President Bill Clinton’s White House and author of Cyber War—one of the first books to raise alarms about the subject—told me in an email that the SolarWinds hack “is over the line and requires a response. Yes, we run the risk of an escalating round of mutual damage, but that may be what it takes for this country to start taking the long list of necessary steps to secure out networks and what they run.”

President-elect Joe Biden seems to agree, saying he would impose “substantial costs” on those responsible for the hack. “A good defense isn’t enough,” he added. “We need to disrupt and deter our adversaries from undertaking cyberattacks in the first place.”

Fine. But how do we do this? What costs do we impose? And how do we ensure that the disruptions deter future attacks? President Barack Obama once signed a directive declaring that the United States might respond…

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