There is a foreign hand in it

Millions of Indian Net users are downloading computer malware while downloading Bollywood songs from popular Pakistani websites

There is a foreign hand in it

Millions of Indian Net users are downloading computer malware while downloading Bollywood songs from popular Pakistani websites

It is not just the oft-repeated defence used by our politicians and police to ward off questions about any untoward situation.

Experts have blamed the recent spurt in data thefts and computer hijack on Pakistan.

"More than 12 lakh Indian Net users access Pakistani websites that offer free downloads of Bollywood songs.

Many a times these during such downloads malware gets installed into the computer which comes as a 'backdoor' with the song," pointed out Ishant Saxena, a computer hardware expert.

"I am getting regular complaints about decreasing efficiency due to virus attack after downloads from a Pakistani website. Nowadays new virus and worms are detected while downloading songs from these websites, which could be just a dry run to manage a bigger attack. Instead of these existing less harmful virus, stuff like Botnet and Zoombe can easily fit into the Indian computers, which later on replicates and makes the entire server vulnerable," said Vivek Vohra, a Delhi-based cyber expert.

Websites like www.songs.pk, www.ansari420.com are very popular in India. They are extensively accessed for easy downloads of old and new Bollywood songs.

"The anti-virus software doesn't work in such a situation as the virus used in such cyber wars are usually new and the anti-virus software cannot identity and detect it," Vohra added.

Post 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks it was claimed that Pakistan has launched cyber attack against India.

But it was not momentary as still lots of computers and websites are getting infected by the Pakistani cyber
criminals. According to cyber experts and technicians, maximum cases of data theft and computer hijack is due to backdoor send by various Pakistani websites.

Under attack
Intelligence agencies had expressed concerns over rogue Pakistani websites and hackers. Recently, a group called Pakistan Cyber Army (PCA) hacked some critical Indian websites, including state-owned energy major Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), Indian Railways and Kendriya Vidyalaya.u00a0 Cyber crime experts say Pakistani hackers are using a wider computer network to hit the Indian economy. They are specially targeting corporate and government computer networks to siphon off important data.