Cyber Incident Victim: Chhattisgarh BJP
Date:
Feb 2019
Location:
India
Summary
The official website of Chhattisgarh BJP was compromised by a group identifying as 'Pakistani cyber attackers,' who defaced the landing page with a Pakistani flag, an image of Pakistan's military personnel, and a threatening message warning India against claims over Kashmir while taunting military capabilities. The hackers, including one using the alias "Faisal 1337," left a war-mongering statement asserting readiness for confrontation and indicating the attack was merely the beginning. Following the breach, the party filed a police report and temporarily took the site offline for restoration by cybersecurity experts and their IT team before bringing it back online. This incident occurred amid heightened cyber tensions following a major terrorist attack in the region.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 2 motives | 1 technique |
| Threat Actor | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1 actor | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On February 20, 2019, the official website of the Chhattisgarh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), bjpcg.com, was compromised by a hacker identifying himself as "Faisal 1337," who claimed affiliation with a group called "Pakistani Cyber Attackers." The attacker replaced the landing page with a defacement message featuring Pakistan's national flag and an image of personnel from all three branches of the Pakistan Army during a parade. The message included explicit threats directed at India, warning against claims over Kashmir and stating, "We are ready to give you counterblast in the battlefield any time in every aspect." It further used colloquial language such as "Don't take flying arrows in your buttocks" and concluded with the Urdu phrase "Abi to hum nay shuru kia ha: D" ("We have just started"). The defacement remained publicly visible until the website was temporarily taken offline for remediation.
The Chhattisgarh BJP responded by filing a First Information Report (FIR) at Raipur's Moudharapara police station on the evening of February 20. The delegation included state BJP IT cell coordinator Deepak Mhaske and senior party officials, who provided police with a screenshot of the hacked page as evidence. Cybersecurity experts and the BJP IT team subsequently conducted maintenance to remove the malicious content, restoring the website to normal operation. The incident occurred amid heightened cyber activity following the February 14 Pulwama terrorist attack, which had killed 40 CRPF personnel, though no direct link between the events was confirmed in the available reporting. The hack’s primary operational impact was the temporary unavailability of the BJP website, while its strategic effect centered on the dissemination of antagonistic messaging during a period of escalated India-Pakistan tensions.