New Delhi, Sep 19 (IANS): Intelligence officials have sounded a serious warning over a low-cost psychological warfare campaign allegedly launched by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), targeting Indian citizens, public officials and security personnel through doxxing, harassment and online intimidation.
The ISI allegedly designed the strategy to exploit social media to create fear, spread panic, and undermine confidence among those targeted.
Pakistan’s intelligence agency is actively recruiting youth and deploying hackers to extract personal data, including phone numbers, physical locations, photographs, and bank details of random individuals across the country.
“Doxxing is the new weapon of the ISI, and the agency is spending a good amount of time and money recruiting youth to gather personal information about random people,” a senior official stated.
Such information would be posted online with threat messages, and the ISI intends to do the same on a big way in many parts of the country, the official added.
An Intelligence Bureau official said that this is part of the propaganda warfare that the ISI has undertaken in India.
While propaganda against the state is one part of the plan, the other is to put out threat messages to random people by uploading their personal information and photograph online, the official said.
“What looks like mischief is actually part of a larger psychological warfare intended to scare the people of India,” the Intelligence Bureau official said.
“The very fact that a person’s personal details and phone numbers are uploaded online with a message is enough to drive panic,” the official added
Another official said that the ISI plans to gather information on Indians using various methods, adding that it has been recruiting persons to gather personal information and photographs.
The other method it has been using is through hacking into personal data. The hacking method is used to go a step further and gather information relating to bank accounts. This information is also intended to be put out in public view, the official added.
Doxxing was a method adopted by the ISI first in Jammu and Kashmir. This was initially used to target the Kashmiri Pandits. The focus then shifted to the migrant workers.
The ISI wanted to create an atmosphere of fear in Jammu and Kashmir. Now it wants to implement the same playbook across the country, officials say.
Officials say that Pakistan has realised that it cannot win a conventional battle with India.
Post Operation Sindoor, a lot has changed, and even terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir have been largely halted. The creation of home-grown modules has not gone as per plan for the ISI as of now. This has led to Pakistan getting frustrated.
With multiple attempts to ignite terror in India failing, Pakistan is now making a complete shift to propaganda and psychological warfare in India. These are low-cost operations and hardly require any planning.
Random people have been appointed to gather personal information so that it can be posted online.
Officials say that doxxing would not just be limited to the common man. The Pakistanis would use the same tactic on law enforcement and military officials, journalists, researchers, and public officials.
While targeting such individuals, the intention is not just to create fear and panic. Targeting these persons is aimed at discouraging them from exposing ISI-led activities and the ongoing investigations into acts of terror sponsored by Pakistan.
Overall, the idea is to create an atmosphere of fear. The ISI was successful in creating such an atmosphere in Jammu and Kashmir by doxxing Kashmiri Pandits and migrant workers. Now it wants to widen the ambit by implementing this tactic across the country, an official said.
