By Ashwani Mishra, Editor-Technology, 63SATS
In January 2025, Karnataka’s Kaveri 2.0, the state’s online property registration portal, became the latest casualty in a growing wave of cyberattacks targeting India’s digital infrastructure.
The portal, launched in 2023 to streamline land registration services, faced sporadic yet crippling outages. Initially suspected to be a technical glitch, investigations by the Revenue Department and the E-Governance Department revealed a more sinister cause—a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack.
The attack overwhelmed Kaveri 2.0’s servers, making citizen services practically inaccessible for days. Fake accounts were created to generate excessive entries in the system, while malicious requests flooded the platform, causing a severe slowdown.
According to The Hindu, at one point, over 6.2 lakh requests were made in just two hours, rendering the system non-functional. The attackers leveraged 62 email accounts and 14 IP addresses, demonstrating the distributed nature of the assault.
The incident had far-reaching consequences, delaying property registrations and disrupting essential citizen services. It also raised serious concerns about the security preparedness of India’s critical government platforms, exposing the vulnerabilities of digital governance.
Noteworthy DDoS Attacks Targeting India
The attack on Kaveri 2.0 is not an isolated incident.
India has been increasingly targeted by cybercriminals and hacktivist groups, many with geopolitical motivations. Here are some of the most significant DDoS attacks in recent years:
1. #OpIndia: Hacktivist Threats During the G20 Summit (September 2023)
Ahead of India hosting the G20 Summit, multiple hacktivist groups—including Ganonsec, Jambi Cyber Team, and Hacktivist Indonesia—orchestrated a large-scale DDoS campaign targeting government and corporate websites. The attack, branded #OpIndia, aimed to cripple India’s ICT infrastructure, with attackers openly soliciting support from global hacker groups.
2. Anonymous Sudan’s Cyber Assault (March 2023)
The Anonymous Sudan hacking group, suspected to be linked to the Russian cyber collective Killnet, has launched numerous DDoS attacks on Indian, European, and Australian entities. The group’s modus operandi involves sharing attack proof on its Telegram channels and even selling stolen data. One of its most infamous claims includes hacking into Air France’s systems in March 2023.
3. Attack on India’s Largest Encyclopedia (June 2023)
A severe DDoS attack in June 2023 took down Bharatpedia, India’s largest online encyclopedia, for several days. The attackers flooded the platform with malicious traffic, rendering it inaccessible. The attack was particularly alarming as it targeted an educational resource, demonstrating that no sector is immune to cyber threats.
Understanding DDoS Attacks: What Makes Them Dangerous?
DDoS attack is a cyberattack designed to flood a target’s servers, networks, or applications with massive amounts of traffic, rendering them unusable. Unlike a Denial of Service (DoS) attack, which comes from a single source, a DDoS attack leverages thousands or even millions of compromised devices—often forming what’s known as a botnet—to amplify its impact.
How DDoS Attacks Disrupt Digital Services
- Website & Service Downtime – Essential online platforms become inaccessible, disrupting business and citizen services.
- Revenue Losses – E-commerce, financial, and government platforms face financial losses due to prolonged outages.
- Reputational Damage – Companies and government entities lose credibility when they cannot defend against such attacks.
- Distraction for Data Breaches – DDoS attacks can be used as a smokescreen while attackers execute more sophisticated data theft operations in the background.
As cybercriminals evolve their tactics, Indian organizations will need to step up their defenses. Whether it’s state-sponsored attackers, hacktivist groups, or profit-driven cybercriminals, DDoS attacks will continue to be a preferred weapon against government services, financial institutions, and large enterprises.
