In fear of cyberattacks, India shuts down access to two top exchanges

Against the backdrop of an escalating conflict with Pakistan, India has temporarily restricted access to the websites of the country’s top two exchanges.

After India struck sites inside Pakistan on Wednesday, retaliating against last month’s deadly attack on Hindu tourists in Kashmir, Delhi is seemingly preparing for Islamabad to organize cyberattacks.

Sources told Reuters that the websites of India’s top two exchanges, the National Stock Exchange and BSE, now cannot be reached by overseas users.

The decision was taken after a joint meeting of exchanges on Tuesday in which cyber threats were discussed, one of the sources said. A BSE spokesperson also referred to cyber threats, but did not specify if the exchange had faced one recently.

The announcement comes against the backdrop of an escalating conflict between nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan, but sources did not say if the cyber threat was directly linked to recent developments.

Given the sensitivity of the overall environment, some entirely “precautionary” steps have been taken by exchanges, said another of the sources. Indian markets are functioning completely normally, the person said.

“BSE, being a critical market infrastructure institution (MII), proactively and continuously monitors risks at domestic and international levels for potential cyber threats,” the BSE spokesperson said in response to an email from Reuters.

“Based on such monitoring of cyber traffic, as a precautionary and protective measure, websites/locations are blocked to protect users and systems,” the spokesperson said, adding that access is being permitted on a case-by-case basis.

No confirmed cyberattacks on Indian or Pakistani infrastructure have taken place so far. However, media outlets in India claim digital intrusions emanating from Pakistan have increased.

For instance, Pakistan Cyber Force – which is a new X account – claims to have breached sensitive data from the Indian Military Engineering Service and Manohar Parrikar Institute, potentially compromising defence personnel information. The institute has denied it.

Pakistan’s National Cyber Emergency Response Team has also released an advisory (PDF), emphasizing that cyber threats and misinformation campaigns were targeting critical infrastructure.

“Hostile elements are taking advantage of the current situation to spread misinformation and conduct cyber attacks on vital sectors,” the advisory stated. “Their goal is to sow chaos and exploit the uncertainty arising from the ongoing tensions at the Line of Control.”

Wednesday’s missile strikes are a dangerous heightening of tension between the neighboring countries that have fought multiple wars since Britain’s colonial rule ended in 1947.