DEV Community: Sandarbh Bajpai

India-Pakistan Cyber Warfare

Sandarbh Bajpai — Wed, 14 May 2025 05:26:37 +0000

Operation Sindoor Cyber Fallout:
In the aftermath of Operation Sindoor-India's military response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians-a coordinated cyber warfare campaign targeted India's digital infrastructure. Maharashtra Cyber identified seven Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups responsible for these attacks, including Pakistan-based APT 36, Pakistan Cyber Force, Team Insane PK, Mysterious Bangladesh, Indo Hacks Sec, Cyber Group HOAX 1337, and National Cyber Crew.

The attackers employed various techniques including malware campaigns, Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks, and GPS spoofing, primarily targeting government organizations (75% of attacks), along with education (8.3%), finance (7.4%), manufacturing (6.5%), and telecom sectors (6.5%). While the cyber assault originated primarily from Pakistan, it also involved hackers from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Morocco, and Middle Eastern countries. Despite the ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan, these cyber attacks have continued, though at a reduced rate, demonstrating the persistence of digital warfare even when conventional hostilities subside.

APT36 Hacking Techniques:
APT36, also known as Transparent Tribe, employs sophisticated cyber-espionage techniques primarily targeting Indian government, military, and diplomatic entities. Their attack methodology has evolved significantly, with their arsenal now including ElizaRAT, a Windows remote administration tool with advanced evasion capabilities including process injection, rootkit functionality, and anti-debugging mechanisms.

The group's infection vectors include spear-phishing emails with malicious attachments, malvertising through Google Ads to distribute trojanized versions of legitimate applications like Kavach MFA, and domain spoofing of official Indian government websites. They've expanded their toolkit to include cross-platform malware targeting both Windows and Linux systems, with payloads like ApoloStealer and Crimson RAT that can exfiltrate sensitive data, capture screenshots, and execute remote commands. APT36 maintains stealth by leveraging legitimate cloud services such as Telegram, Google Drive, and Slack for command-and-control communications, implementing time zone checks to ensure execution only on Indian systems, and creating elaborate infrastructure designed to obscure their Pakistani origins.

DDoS Attack Statistics:
The surge in cyber hostilities following Operation Sindoor saw Distributed Denial-of-Service(DDoS) attacks emerge as the dominant threat vector, accounting for 55.5% of all identified attacks against Indian targets. This represents a dramatic escalation compared to normal activity levels-while only 147 DDoS attacks targeted India between February and April 2025, a staggering 112 were recorded in just the first nine days of May. The peak occurred on May 10, when attack volumes reached levels 97 times (9700%) higher than pre-conflict baseline measurements from April 22.

The attacks displayed clear strategic patterns, with government institutions bearing the brunt (52% of incidents), followed by education (21.5%), technology/IT services (6.5%), finance (8.5%), and telecom (6.4%) sectors. The most active threat groups included RipperSec (responsible for 30% of all DDoS claims), AnonSec (16.8%), Keymous+ (10.2%), Sylhet Gang (9%), and Mr Hamza (4.7%). Attack intensity peaked at 4pm UTC on May 7, with seven claimed DDoS attacks per hour, though activity began declining after both nations agreed to a comprehensive ceasefire on May 11.

Olake (Lakehouse)

Sandarbh Bajpai — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 18:09:31 +0000

In this blog, we’ll explore what OLake is, how it works, and why it’s useful—all explained in simple, beginner-friendly language.

📦 What is OLake?
OLake is an open-source data lakehouse platform designed to help developers and data engineers store, manage, and analyze large volumes of data effectively.

It’s built on top of Apache Iceberg, a powerful open table format, and it brings the best features of data lakes and data warehouses into one unified system.

🧩 Let’s Break Down the Word "Lakehouse"
To understand OLake, let’s quickly look at the three major data storage terms:

Term Simple Meaning
Data Lake A big storage system for raw data (like a messy hard drive
full of unorganized files)
Data Warehouse A clean, structured place where data is prepared for
analysis (like a well-organized Excel sheet)
Lakehouse A hybrid system that combines both—it stores raw data but
also makes it easy to query and analyze.

So essentially:
Lakehouse = Data Lake + Data Warehouse
And OLake is a modern tool that builds this Lakehouse system for you.

⚙️ What Does OLake Actually Do?
OLake lets you:

📥 Ingest huge amounts of raw data (from logs, apps, sensors, etc.)

🧹 Manage schema changes (add or remove columns easily)

⏳ Time travel through your data (see older versions of data tables)

⚡ Query data efficiently using SQL

🔄 Keep data consistent and clean across versions

All of this is possible because OLake is powered by Apache Iceberg under the hood.

🧑‍💻 Real-World Example
Imagine you're a data engineer at an e-commerce giant like Flipkart:

You collect data from 1 crore+ users: orders, reviews, page visits, etc.

You need to store that raw data cheaply and efficiently.

You also want to analyze it: “What products are trending this week?”

You need the flexibility of a data lake, but the performance of a warehouse.

That’s where OLake becomes the perfect solution—it brings you the best of both worlds!

🔧 What Technologies Power OLake?
✅ Apache Iceberg – Open table format for massive datasets

✅ SQL Support – For querying the data like a traditional warehouse

✅ Open-source – You can contribute or customize it as needed

✅ Cloud and Big Data Ready – Scales well with modern infrastructures

🚀 Why Should You Care About OLake?
Whether you’re a developer, data scientist, or student, OLake is worth learning about because:

It’s free and open-source

It’s designed for modern, cloud-native data platforms

It teaches you about real-world data architecture

It’s built on trending technologies (Apache Iceberg, Lakehouse architecture)

📝 Final Thoughts
OLake is a modern, open-source platform that bridges the gap between messy raw data and clean, analyzable data.
If you’re exploring data engineering, OLake is a great tool to learn and write about!

💡 Next Up: Want to see how Apache Iceberg works? In my next blog, I’ll break down Iceberg in simple terms—stay tuned!

GPMI (General Purpose Media Interface)

Sandarbh Bajpai — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 17:16:11 +0000

‼️Information update ‼️

Say Hello to GPMI – The Future of Connectivity! 🌐

A new era of wired interfaces is here! The General Purpose Media Interface (GPMI), developed by over 50 leading Chinese tech companies like Hisense, Skyworth, and TCL, is set to revolutionize how we connect our devices. This innovative standard might soon replace HDMI, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt, and USB.

Why GPMI is a Game-Changer:
🔗 All-in-One Solution: Combines video, audio, network connection, and power supply into a single cable.
⚡ Unmatched Power & Speed:

Type-C Variant: 96 Gbps bandwidth + 240W power.

Type-B Variant: 192 Gbps bandwidth + 480W power.
📉 Less Clutter: Say goodbye to multiple cables—GPMI reduces wire clutter and e-waste.
🔒 Advanced Features: Bidirectional multi-streaming, ultra-fast data transfer, and full-chain security.
💡 Compatibility: Type-C works seamlessly with USB Type-C devices.

How Does It Compare?
GPMI outpaces HDMI 2.1 (48 Gbps), DisplayPort 2.1 (80 Gbps), and USB4 (40 Gbps).

Unlike HDMI or DisplayPort, it also delivers power—up to an impressive 480W!

The Catch?
Currently, GPMI supports up to 8K resolution (lower than HDMI’s 10K or DisplayPort’s 16K) and is being adopted primarily by Chinese companies. But with its potential to simplify connectivity and reduce e-waste, it’s exciting to see where this technology heads next!

💡 Imagine a world where one cable does it all—streaming data, powering devices, and connecting seamlessly. Could this be the future of Smart TVs, monitors, and beyond? 🌟

What are your thoughts on GPMI? Will it become the universal standard for connectivity? Let’s discuss! 👇