Pakistan’s digital retaliation cripples India, inflicts major strategic, economic losses

ISLAMABAD: In its retaliatory attack, Pakistan unleashed less than 10 percent of its cyber arsenal that caused huge losses to India, said a senior defence source.

Pakistan activated less than a tenth of its cyber warfare capabilities, yet the impact sent shockwaves through India that prided itself as a global IT hub. Pakistan’s counter-attack surprised India on multiple fronts, but the most devastating was invisible.

Security sources claim that Indian markets crashed INR6.9 trillion ($83billion) in just 48 hours -- even before the missiles hit. “The Nifty 500 bled red, with reliance down 2.1 percent, HDFC 2 percent, and banks tumbling in a deep drawdown,” these sources said.

While the world saw Pakistan launching its operation on Saturday morning with a precise strike package, including Fateh-1, Fateh-2 rockets and Babur cruise missiles, getting multiple targets deep inside India including its prized S-400 radar, hell broke loose in the invisible cyberattack. Security sources said that the damage caused by Pakistan’s cyberattack included: 10 SCADA arrays torched; 1,744 servers wiped; 13 government websites down; Railways’ systems collapsed; power grids throttled, even Mumbai ran on emergency backup.

“Pakistan played a deeper game of GPS spoofing, signal jamming, satellite blinding, database hacking and the narrative warfare,” said the source, adding that it led to markets fall and freezing of infrastructure.

“This is no ordinary retaliation. This is fifth-generation warfare -- where Pakistan isn’t just responding, it’s rewriting the rules,” said the source, adding, “In this particular war, there are no tanks, no treaties but just firmware, fibre, frequency and fear.”

Use of Fatah 1 and Fatah 2, Pakistan’s own unarmed drones flying over New Delhi, Gujarat and many important cities for psychological operations only, Kamikaze killer drones dovetailed with other payloads, use of own electronic and warfare equipment jamming enemy’s satellite link and blinding their response vectors were also the highlights of Pakistan’s operation against India.

Through accurate intelligence, Indian special terrorist camps which plan and execute IED activities in Pakistan were identified and targeted, neutralising the masterminds and planners/executors.