New Delhi, June 14 (IANS) Indian security agencies have tracked a server in Pakistan that was used to hack the computer of an Indian Army major based in the Andamans who is being questioned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
According to sources, the computer of the army officer containing some sensitive information was being accessed from two proxy servers.
The location of one the servers has been tracked to Pakistan while there is some confusion over the origin of the other server, which is also likely to be based in that country, the sources said Monday.
They said the actual location of the second server is being examined as the hackers have been using proxy IP addresses through various internet gateways of European countries.
The sources said a forensic report has also pointed out that some key files and e-mails were deleted from the computer after it was seized by authorities.
The army major came under the scanner after a tip-off from US intelligence agencies examining suspicious internet traffic during their probe related to Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Headley. The American agencies found a user in Andaman and Nicobar Islands dispatching to a computer in Pakistan a picture of a serving Indian brigadier who was attending a training programme in the US.
Indian agencies quickly zeroed in on the officer and a quiet operation was planned to call him to New Delhi. The major has pleaded ignorance.
The army and the defence ministry have ruled out espionage, saying it was a cyber security breach.
However, the NIA is probing if there was a deliberate leak of information from the major’s computer.
Official sources close to the investigation process say the probe till now points towards the violation of stringent Official Secrets Act as the major had over 2,500 defence presentations on his personal computer, much beyond his sphere of work. Some of these files, the sources said, are ‘secret and even top secret’.
The computer is currently with the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in Hyderabad.
The major has been called twice to the national capital and has been detained for questioning.
