Government Issue Alert to Officials over ZIP Files Software Pakistan Linked Security Concern All Details

The target of hackers is not only the common man but also the government. The Indian government had twice last year asked its officials to be cautious about foreign hackers, especially Pakistani and Chinese hackers, and now, a latest media report claims that the government has once again asked its officials to be alert from Pakistan. A warning notice related to a cyber threat group has been issued. The group is exploiting vulnerabilities in WinRAR software to infiltrate government networks with trojans like AllaKore and Ares. This software that compresses or extracts files has now become a gateway to malicious activity.

of money control Report It says the Indian government has asked its officials to remain vigilant against Pakistani cyber threat groups, which may reportedly take advantage of vulnerabilities in the WinRAR software to infiltrate government networks through Trojans. This is indicative of a worrying trend of foreign nation-state-affiliated cyber threat groups targeting Indian government institutions, especially defense units, to access sensitive information.

This is not the first time that the Indian government has asked its employees to remain alert from foreign cyber threat groups. An earlier report from the same publication states that at different times last year the government Pakistani And Sugar Had issued a warning to its officers regarding hacking groups.

This latest advisory, published on April 9, warns about a group named SideCopy. These groups are exploiting a weakness in WinRAR software to inject software called remote access trojans (RATs) like Allacore and Ares into government networks. These RATs are tricky, able to steal system details, record keystrokes, take screenshots, and even move files. They then send this stolen data to the Command and Control (C2) server.

Sidecopy, which is believed to have originally originated from Pakistan and has been active since at least 2019, primarily targets groups in South Asian countries, particularly the defense sectors of India and Afghanistan. They deceive people by sending fake emails about defense content, make them open malicious attachments and infect their computers.