A Class 12 dropout from Gujarat has been apprehended by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) for allegedly orchestrating cyberattacks on over 50 government websites. The 18-year-old, Jasim Shahnawaz Ansari from Nadiad, along with other juvenile accomplices, targeted these websites, particularly in the wake of "Operation Sindoor," India's military response to the Pahalgam terror attack.

Ansari, despite his lack of formal education, had acquired considerable expertise in various programming languages. ATS officials stated that Ansari's actions were driven by a radicalized ideology rather than financial gain. He reportedly learned hacking skills through YouTube tutorials and utilized tools downloaded from GitHub. He and his accomplices employed applications like TERMUX and PYDROID3 to launch Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks. These attacks overwhelm servers with malicious traffic, rendering them inaccessible to legitimate users, potentially disrupting online services, causing financial losses, and damaging organizational reputations.

The accused attempted to bring down at least 20 government websites on May 7, the day when Operation Sindoor was launched. Following the successful disruption of government websites, the group, operating under the name "AnonSec," would post screenshots on their Telegram channel, accompanied by anti-India messages. One such message read, "Several Government sites of India has been touch by AnonSec..!" Another stated, "Hi, India we just took down your financial shield and servers."

The Gujarat ATS investigation revealed that Ansari and his juvenile associates had created the Telegram group "Anonsec" to coordinate their activities. They also had a backup channel just in case their primary channel gets taken down. The group's activities came to light when the ATS received alerts about hackers targeting Indian websites during Operation Sindoor. Inspector Dhruv Prajapati of Gujarat ATS received an input about Ansari and the minor running the 'AnonSec' channel. A special team was formed to investigate. The phones of both suspects were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for examination.

This arrest highlights the growing concern among Indian security agencies regarding anti-national activities on internet platforms, including the dark web. Both central and state governments have issued directives to monitor these activities closely, especially after Operation Sindoor.

Ansari and his accomplice, though both had failed Class 12, reportedly became highly skilled in hacking and cyber activities in just 6 to 8 months. Apart from hacking websites, they were also found posting messages against India. An FIR has been filed in connection with the case and further investigation is ongoing.