Indian elections subjected to hacktivist attacks

Hackread reports that cyberattacks aimed at the ongoing Indian general elections have risen by almost 300% since last year, with the polls being targeted by 16 independent hacktivist operations, including Anonymous Bangladesh and Anon Black Flag.

Notable election-related cyber intrusions included the exposure of Indian Voter ID cards by the Ahadun-Ahad 2.0 Team on Telegram, which may have been exfiltrated from third-party organizations, as well as other cybercriminals' exfiltration of NOC documents with personally identifiable information, such as selfies, which could be exploited for influence operations, a report from Resecurity showed. Attackers have also defaced websites and leaked data to launch influence campaigns against India's government leaders, said researchers.

Such a development comes as elections across 17 countries have been targeted by cybercriminals, indicating mounting risks at the upcoming U.S. polls, which should prompt the implementation of necessary identity protection techniques and proactive data leak notifications, researchers added.