- The Ministry of Education warned about foreign entities collecting sensitive national security data
- These entities assign articles on India's defense, foreign relations, and military exercises to students
- Payments for articles are made via Indian accounts or sometimes through overseas transfers
The Ministry of Education has released a notification warning students and faculty about some foreign entities that are engaged in collecting sensitive information related to India's national security. The notification mentions the techniques used by the foreign entities for extracting information pertaining to India's national security, defence establishment, critical infrastructure and government functioning etc. The government further directs higher education institutions to educate students and faculty members for exercising caution against the modus operandi being adopted by such entities.
As per the notification, the entities assign the task of writing source-based articles, covering strategic and sensitive topics on India's foreign relations, deployment of troops, weapon systems, latest defense procurement, joint military exercises and war exercises etc.
They make payment for writing articles usually through Indian accounts or sometimes through overseas transfers. Indian students accounts and amounts of cyber frauds are used for these payments.
Entities hide their true identity and usually describe themselves as representatives of consulting firms operating in some other countries.
Sensitive information such as PAN cards and Aadhar cards of applicants with defense backgrounds are collected through Indian intermediaries, whose implications are unknown.
Use of Job Portals (Linkedln, Naukri.com) to identify and recruit candidates with experience particularly in the journalism and defense sectors.