LeT, JeM get ISI cyber training

A highly-specialised cyber division of Pakistan’s key counter intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has been assigned the task of training operatives of main militant outfits in the use of cyber technology. The ISI’s cyber experts are visiting training camps of militant outfits like the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Indian Mujahideen most of which are located in PoK to train their cadre in use of computers.

These details form part of a classified note which was discussed during the high level security review meeting of DGPs/IGPs that concluded in the capital on Saturday with an address from Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. This annual conference organised by the home ministry is the biggest exercise to discuss at length the major security challenges being faced by India.

According to the note, which has been accessed by this newspaper, “the ISI is now working on a bigger gameplan in training terrorists in the use of cyber and computer technology as the Pakistani agency feels India is not fully equipped in dealing with incidents of cyber war or attack.’’

Importantly, the note states that the training given to subversive elements by ISI’s cyber experts played a key role in spreading the hate campaign through MMS and SMSes targeting people from the North-East in wake of ethnic violence in Assam. And this trend will only increase in the days to come and it is for this reason that ISI has stressed upon militant outfits to recruit more educated youth, it adds.

Sources said the issue of cyber security was discussed at length during the meeting. Some senior intelligence and security experts pointed out that the ISI was also in the process of specially training tech savvy youngsters who may be used for hacking or crippling essential services in India which are driven by computer technology.

“It is almost certain that the Pakistani agency was behind the recent cyber attack on India, at least indirectly. Having tasted success they will try it again in future and on a much bigger scale. So we must be prepared to deal with this challenge,’’a senior intelligence official said.

Post new comment

<form action="/comment/reply/187738" accept-charset="UTF-8" method="post" id="comment-form"> <div><div class="form-item" id="edit-name-wrapper"> <label for="edit-name">Your name: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="60" name="name" id="edit-name" size="30" value="Reader" class="form-text required" /> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-mail-wrapper"> <label for="edit-mail">E-Mail Address: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="64" name="mail" id="edit-mail" size="30" value="" class="form-text required" /> <div class="description">The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.</div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-comment-wrapper"> <label for="edit-comment">Comment: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <textarea cols="60" rows="15" name="comment" id="edit-comment" class="form-textarea resizable required"></textarea> </div> <fieldset class=" collapsible collapsed"><legend>Input format</legend><div class="form-item" id="edit-format-1-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-1"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-1" name="format" value="1" class="form-radio" /> Filtered HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Allowed HTML tags: &lt;a&gt; &lt;em&gt; &lt;strong&gt; &lt;cite&gt; &lt;code&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt; &lt;dl&gt; &lt;dt&gt; &lt;dd&gt;</li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-format-2-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-2"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-2" name="format" value="2" checked="checked" class="form-radio" /> Full HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> </fieldset> <input type="hidden" name="form_build_id" id="form-560e0f0cb2f3441b9cc5abaff2974d58" value="form-560e0f0cb2f3441b9cc5abaff2974d58" /> <input type="hidden" name="form_id" id="edit-comment-form" value="comment_form" /> <fieldset class="captcha"><legend>CAPTCHA</legend><div class="description">This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.</div><input type="hidden" name="captcha_sid" id="edit-captcha-sid" value="80036553" /> <input type="hidden" name="captcha_response" id="edit-captcha-response" value="NLPCaptcha" /> <div class="form-item"> <div id="nlpcaptcha_ajax_api_container"><script type="text/javascript"> var NLPOptions = {key:'c4823cf77a2526b0fba265e2af75c1b5'};</script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://call.nlpcaptcha.in/js/captcha.js" ></script></div> </div> </fieldset> <span class="btn-left"><span class="btn-right"><input type="submit" name="op" id="edit-submit" value="Save" class="form-submit" /></span></span> </div></form>

No Articles Found

No Articles Found

No Articles Found

I want to begin with a little story that was told to me by a leading executive at Aptech. He was exercising in a gym with a lot of younger people.

Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen didn’t make the cut. Neither did Shaji Karun’s Piravi, which bagged 31 international awards.