India used hackers to spy on Pakistani officials, among them Fawad Chaudhry and Pervez Musharaf

[RescueRanger]

The hacking gang, which operates under the name WhiteInt, is run from a fourth-floor apartment in a suburb of the Indian tech city Gurugram. Its mastermind is 31-year-old Aditya Jain – an occasional TV cybersecurity pundit who also holds down a day job at the Indian office of the British accountancy firm Deloitte.

For seven years, Jain has run a network of computer hackers who have been hired by British private detectives to steal the email inboxes of their targets using “phishing” techniques. Sometimes his team deploy malicious software which takes control of computer cameras and microphones, and allows them to view and listen to their victims.

Earlier this year undercover reporters from the Sunday Times travelled to India posing as corporate investigators seeking to hire a computer hacker and approached a number of suspected cybercriminals. The reporters contacted Jain and began a lengthy exchange of messages.

Jain told them: “I offer access to closed source information of email and computers of the POI [person of interest] anywhere across the globe … an average timeline is around 20 to 30 days.”

Several of Jain’s political targets seem to have arisen from the continued tensions between India and Pakistan.

On 10 January this year he was tasked with breaking into the email account of Fawad Chaudhry, Pakistan’s then minister of information in Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government. Jain took a screenshot of Chaudhry’s inbox, which has been seen by this newspaper and the Bureau.

Jain’s team used malware to take over his computers and targeted the country's senior generals as well as its embassies in Beijing, Shanghai and Kathmandu in a similar way. The most famous Pakistan-related target was Pervez Musharraf, the former president of the country.

Other targets:

• Orders went out to the gang to target the BBC’s political editor Chris Mason in May, three weeks after his appointment was announced.
• The president of Switzerland and his deputy were targeted just days after he met Boris Johnson and Liz Truss in Downing Street to discuss Russian sanctions.
• Philip Hammond, then chancellor, was hacked as he was dealing with the fallout of Russia’s novichok poisonings in Salisbury.
• A private investigator hired by a London law firm acting for the Russian state ordered the gang to target a British-based oligarch fleeing Vladimir Putin.
• Michel Platini, the former head of European football, was hacked shortly before he was due to talk to French police about corruption allegations relating to the 2022 World Cup.
• The hackers broke into the email inboxes of Formula One motor racing bosses Ruth Buscombe, the British head of race strategy at the Alfa Romeo team, and Otmar Szafnauer, who was chief executive of the Aston Martin team.
• The gang seized control of computers owned by Pakistan’s politicians, generals and diplomats and eavesdropped on their private conversations, apparently at the behest of the Indian secret services.

The Bureau Investigates

Most cheap android phones in Pakistan are rooted with vulnerabilities:

This is why a leading Blue Chip MNC in Pakistan now issues its C-Suite and execs with Samsung KNOX.

Meanwhile vital installations running Windows XP SP2 and Windows XP Server 2003 on HP BLc3000.

BLc series End of Life was 2012:

Our VOIP endpoints are vulnerable and running configuration on Cisco 887VA routers open port 80 [Unencrypted]... LOL

Lol
“Took over computers….”
Like the bar was high when dealing with a pirated version of windows XP.

This.

 

[maverick1977]

Hundreds of Pakistani army personnel cell phones through whatapp were compromised, and offers were made to work for RAW. The MI directorate has made it mandatory to get off social media along with Andriod phones. only Iphones are allowed and no social media presence.

 

[SQ8]

Seriously?

Very much so -

 

[lastofthepatriots]

Hundreds of Pakistani army personnel cell phones through whatapp were compromised, and offers were made to work for RAW. The MI directorate has made it mandatory to get off social media along with Andriod phones. only Iphones are allowed and no social media presence.

Just make a google email account with Donald Lun photo attached as profile pic. Bajra will click on the secret pdf.exe file...

 

[Bilal9]

If he truly broke into all the targets as reported, his market value is about $ 1 Million per year. That is the going rate for people who can break into most desirable targets.

I wouldn't call an idiot who snares unsuspecting people into ransomware by phishing, an "expert".

Any idiot can do that.

Now going via zero day or writing your own malware, there's real talent.

Indians usually fall into the first noob category, as expected.

Now Eastern European and Russian guys, these guys know WTF they are doing.

 

[Goritoes]

No need for hacking Indians, You get any information about Pakistan Army/ISI/Politicians/Judges/Govt on P0rn Hub for free.

 

[epebble]

Any idiot can do that.

Are you confident you can give all the communication from the P.M. of Bangladesh or India or Pakistan to someone for a million dollars? If so, you are sitting on a gold mine.