Security News > 2022 > June > Malaysia-linked DragonForce hacktivists attack Indian targets

A Malaysia-linked hacktivist group has attacked targets in India, seemingly in reprisal for a representative of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party making remarks felt to be insulting to the prophet Muhammad. The BJP has ties to the Hindu Nationalist movement that promotes the idea India should be an exclusively Hindu nation.

According to Indian threat intelligence vendor CloudSEK and US-based security and application delivery vendor Radware, Sharma's remarks caught the attention of a Malaysia-linked group called DragonForce that has launched attacks against Indian targets and sought assistance from others to do likewise under the banner "#OpsPatuk".

Radware's take [PDF] on DragonForce is it's "a known pro-Palestinian hacktivist group located in Malaysia and has been observed working with several threat groups in the past, including the T3 Dimension Team and ReliksCrew."

"DragonForce Malaysia is not considered an advanced or a persistent threat group, nor are they currently considered to be sophisticated," Radware's analysts wrote.

CloudSEK concurs with Radware's analysis that DragonForce relies on widely available DDoS tools and suggests a DragonForce forum member launched DDoS attacks against the BJP website, and shared credentials that offer access to social media accounts and bank accounts.

"Over the last year, DragonForce Malaysia and its associates have launched several campaigns," Radware's researchers wrote, adding: "The threat groups, in combination, have successfully filled the void left by Anonymous while remaining independent during the resurgence of hacktivists relating to the Russian/Ukrainian war." .

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/06/15/dragonforce_malaysia_india_attacks/