Cyber Attack From Inside India Hits Pakistan Government

judgecorp writes "Government institutions are among the targets of an attack on Pakistani bodies, which originates in India, according to reports. The campaign is using vulnerabilities in Microsoft software to install the HangOver malware, according to Norwegian security firm Norman Shark (PDF). From the article: 'In the attacks on Pakistani organizations, spear phishing emails were sent out purporting to contain information on "ongoing conflicts in the region, regional culture and religious matters," according to Norman. Norman could not provide direct attribution to the attacks, but its report did note the following: "The continued targeting of Pakistani interests and origins suggested that the attacker was of Indian origin." Snorre Fagerland, principal security researcher in the Malware Detection Team at Norman, told TechWeekEurope it appeared Pakistani government bodies had been attacked.'"

If some government were doing that...

[icebike]

If India were actually behind this, why would it appear to come from India?

If someone else were doing this, wouldn't India be the obvious choice for your final leg?

Re:If some government were doing that...

[interkin3tic]

If India were actually behind this, why would it appear to come from India?

Perhaps because the Pakistanis would blame India even if the government knew it was from someone else, so why bother. TFA also makes it sound like there's no smoking gun implicating the Indian government, so saying "These attacks came from within India!" is probably not enough to bring much international heat on India (or shouldn't anyway, the UN has shown once or twice it doesn't understand how the internet works, or at least that it doesn't care.) TFA also mentions that it's possible someone is trying to make it LOOK like an Indian security firm, while it may not actually be.

Lastly, and perhaps most simply, it could be incompetence.

Re:If some government were doing that...

[slashmydots]

Actually, no IPs were from india it seems to indicate. They said it's against Pakistin, thus it's from India, end of evidence. Talk about idiotic non-journalistic bullshit.

Re:If some government were doing that...

[bragr]

It's just as likely some independent hacker who figures that it is easier to get away with hacking the "enemy". Smart russian hackers don't hack russians, smart american hackers don't hack western targets, smart chinese hackers don't hack chinese targets. Pretty good chance that this is just the same from an Indian perspective.