Who are our soldiers in the cyber war with Pakistan? Contrary to popular belief, the cyber war is not fought by hackers hired by the government but by software engineers.
Who are our soldiers in the cyber war with Pakistan? Contrary to popular belief, the cyber war is not fought by hackers hired by the government but by software engineers loosely connected through anonymous chat severs who want to do “something for their country” in their own way and in their free time.
Meet Rahul Shekhar (name changed to protect identity), a 26-year-old software engineer with one of the top IT firms in India. Rahul is one of the many “soldiers” India has in its cyber war against known and unknown enemies.
A harmless coder of taxation-related software during the day, Shekhar tunes in to the cyber war by night. “I get home and relax for some time. Post an early dinner I spend three hours working on a form of attack, defence or training in India’s cyber wars,” he told DNA.
Globally, hackers not connected with the government machinery are known to supply intelligence to their governments. Like snipers on a tall building, computer hackers often act as cyber vanguards. Working in tandem with like-minded people worldwide, Indian and Pakistani hackers fight this silent battle round-the-clock. They keep tabs on each other’s possible vulnerabilities and send in worms, viruses and other malware once vulnerabilities are confirmed.
According to Shekhar, hackers fighting for any country are of three kinds: Black hats, white hats and grey hats. In cyber parlance, black hats are hackers whose professional lives are spent trying to attack other systems. White hats defend against attacks. “I am of the third kind, the grey hat — not a professional hacker but I pursue it seriously as a hobby and out of patriotism.”
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