Cyber Warfare During Operation Sindoor: Malware Campaign Analysis and Detection Framework

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Paliwal, Prakhar, Kabra, Atul, Hanawal, Manjesh Kumar
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866915533740310528
author Paliwal, Prakhar
Kabra, Atul
Hanawal, Manjesh Kumar
author_facet Paliwal, Prakhar
Kabra, Atul
Hanawal, Manjesh Kumar
contents Rapid digitization of critical infrastructure has made cyberwarfare one of the important dimensions of modern conflicts. Attacking the critical infrastructure is an attractive pre-emptive proposition for adversaries as it can be done remotely without crossing borders. Such attacks disturb the support systems of the opponents to launch any offensive activities, crippling their fighting capabilities. Cyberattacks during cyberwarfare can not only be used to steal information, but also to spread disinformation to bring down the morale of the opponents. Recent wars in Europe, Africa, and Asia have demonstrated the scale and sophistication that the warring nations have deployed to take the early upper hand. In this work, we focus on the military action launched by India, code-named Operation Sindoor, to dismantle terror infrastructure emanating from Pakistan and the cyberattacks launched by Pakistan. In particular, we study the malware used by Pakistan APT groups to deploy Remote Access Trojans in Indian systems. We provide details of the tactics and techniques used in the RAT deployment and develop a telemetry framework to collect necessary event logs using Osquery with a custom extension. Finally, we develop a detection rule that can be readily deployed to detect the presence of the RAT or any exploitation performed by the malware.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_04118
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Cyber Warfare During Operation Sindoor: Malware Campaign Analysis and Detection Framework
Paliwal, Prakhar
Kabra, Atul
Hanawal, Manjesh Kumar
Cryptography and Security
Rapid digitization of critical infrastructure has made cyberwarfare one of the important dimensions of modern conflicts. Attacking the critical infrastructure is an attractive pre-emptive proposition for adversaries as it can be done remotely without crossing borders. Such attacks disturb the support systems of the opponents to launch any offensive activities, crippling their fighting capabilities. Cyberattacks during cyberwarfare can not only be used to steal information, but also to spread disinformation to bring down the morale of the opponents. Recent wars in Europe, Africa, and Asia have demonstrated the scale and sophistication that the warring nations have deployed to take the early upper hand. In this work, we focus on the military action launched by India, code-named Operation Sindoor, to dismantle terror infrastructure emanating from Pakistan and the cyberattacks launched by Pakistan. In particular, we study the malware used by Pakistan APT groups to deploy Remote Access Trojans in Indian systems. We provide details of the tactics and techniques used in the RAT deployment and develop a telemetry framework to collect necessary event logs using Osquery with a custom extension. Finally, we develop a detection rule that can be readily deployed to detect the presence of the RAT or any exploitation performed by the malware.
title Cyber Warfare During Operation Sindoor: Malware Campaign Analysis and Detection Framework
topic Cryptography and Security
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.04118