Cyber Warfare is a new warfront between India and Pakistan, being one of the five key  distinctive warfare environments during the recent five-day conflict between the two states along with air , land , electronic and maritime warfare. In the wake of the Pahalgam incident, India quickly accused Pakistan of the attack and launched Operation Sindoor , a series of drone and missile attacks on Pakistan on May 7, 2025. Islamabad , while denying the allegations, responded with it’s own military operation named Bunyan um Marsoos, involving targeted air and missile attacks on Indian military installations. This time the conflict was not only limited to shelling on Line of control and missile attacks, but extended to cyberspace as well. Hackers from both sides have been active , launching cyber attacks such as website defacements , Denial of Service attacks (DoS) , phishing campaigns ,and  malware intrusions.

During the conflict , both India and Pakistan have seen a significant surge in cyber attacks. According to a report, an over 500% increase in cyber attacks in India and over 700% increase in Pakistan was noted , compared to the pre-conflict baseline.   Indian authorities reported over 1.5 million cyber intrusions during the days  following the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor. Telecom companies , critical government websites, banking systems , and airports were among the major targets of such attacks. The situation in cyberspace escalated in parallel to the escalations on land.

According to an Indian report ,the hacktivist groups from Pakistan such as APT36 , Pakistan Cyber Force , Team Insane Pakistan,  Indo Hacks sec, HOAX 1337  and National Cyber Crew were behind most of the cyber intrusions. For instance, an Indian website was defaced , displaying a message supporting Pakistan. Similarly, Team Insane Pakistan hacked the Information and Public Relations Department of Rajasthan’s website , showcasing a message about the failure of  Indian authorities , calling Indian security a Fiction. Most notably, another civilian cyber actor, calling themselves Dienet, claimed extraction of over 247 GB of data from India’s National Informatics Centre , threatening to gradually release the information depending on India’s future actions. On the other hand , local Indian hacktivist groups such as Indian Cyber Force and Kerala Cyber Warriors were involved in cyber war against Pakistan.

On 9th May , a group of Pakistani volunteer hackers ,in response to Indian cyber attacks launched a cyber   campaign titled Operation Salar . As a result ,successfully hacked four prominent Indian websites . The group reportedly got access to sensitive information and displayed Pakistani national flag on the homepages of these websites.  The group stated that the operation was launched in retaliation to Indian cyber attacks, anti-Pakistan propaganda, false terrorism allegations and continuous oppression in Indian-Occupied Kashmir. They declared that hacking four websites was just a beginning, threatening to start  a full-fledged  cyber war in case of further escalation.

The most commonly used forms of cyber attacks by hacktivist groups were DDoS, website defacements , malware and espionage. Over 50% of these cyber offensives were Distributed Denial of Service attacks (DDoS) , seeking to overburden Indian websites and online services. Around 36% of attacks were of website defacement, the second most commonly used tactic by hackers. Web defacements often included  posting pro-Pakistani messages on the homepages of Indian websites. 10% of these intrusions were malware and espionage. Malware is harming a computer or network through a malicious software while espionage is stealing information from such websites through cyber attacks. These  cyber attacks were launched by civilian actors  .

However , cyber Warfare was not limited to civilian actors only , rather it was  a distinctive war environment for state actors as well. On 10th May , Pakistan Military stated that a cyber attack was launched as part of the operation Bunyan um Marsoos against India paralyzing 70 percent of India’s power grid. India denied the claims of Pakistan’s Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) regarding power outages . Nevertheless, the Indian media reported power outages across several regions. The same was also reported on social media by a large number of Indians. Experts stated that the cyber attack of such a scale was plausible given that the cyber attacks by state actors are covert and  highly targeted. This was an unprecedented move by Pakistan military in the history of India Pakistan conflicts.

In the wake of the recent India Pakistan conflict, cyber Warfare has proven to be a new warfront . Both countries after May 2025 , acknowledge cyber space as a critical domain of conflict. For years, the animosity between the two neighbouring nuclear-armed states was limited to land , air and maritime space, but the aftermath of the Pahalgam incident introduced  cyber war front in the conflict. The ceasefire  mediation by the  US on 10th May resulted in a halt in hostilities ,but the confrontation in the cyber state did not stop immediately . Both countries are currently in a ceasefire situation but the DDoS attacks continue to exist with the scale of attack being reduced.

Cyber Warfare is no longer an alien term , it’s a reality in 2025 . The India Pakistan conflict has proven  that cyber attacks by civilian and state actors were force multipliers for conventional military actions. However , the risk of such confrontations in future is real and should be mitigated with the advancement of cyber security for the protection of critical infrastructure. Pakistan should invest more to advance national cyber security. An advanced multi-layered defence system to detect and defend such attacks is necessary for national security. With such capacity building, it would be possible to detect attacks early and defend through a coordinated response.