In sting op, Indian hackers claim to have targeted VIPs worldwide

The Indian hackers boasted that they were never caught. Most began as cybersecurity experts

- Naomi Canton

London: Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf would have felt ambushed, exUEAFA president Michel Platini would flash a red card, Liz Truss aide Mark Fullbrook would’ve felt short-changed in her short UK PM stint and BMW’s Stefan Quandt would slam the brakes if he could.

The leading lights feature on a dark laundry list of big names targeted by hackers in India at the centre of a worldwide scandal in which the gangs allegedly earned thousands of dollars by breaking into emails of government and prominent figures at the behest of private investigators.

The UK-based Sunday Times Insight Team and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism sent undercover reporters to India posing as former MI6 agents-turned-corporate investigators seeking to hire some top computer hackers to infiltrate the hacking industry.

One hacker claimed to have used Pegasus, the Israeli software which ignited a political firestorm in India two years ago and prompted an SC probe into surveillance allegations. Hacking is illegal in India and the UK. The investigation found that victims were often befriended on social media and the hackers sent them something interesting to click on. When they clicked, they downloaded malware onto their computer which allowed the hacker to access their email inboxes.