Tek Fog: An App With BJP Footprints for Cyber Troops to Automate Hate, Manipulate Trends https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVmxwY678mE
The Wire investigates claims behind the use of ‘Tek Fog’, a highly sophisticated app used by online operatives to hijack major social media and encrypted messaging platforms and amplify right-wing propaganda to a domestic audience.
the four features of Tek Fog – (1) hijacking Twitter and Facebook trends, (2) phishing and capturing inactive WhatsApp accounts, (3) creating and deploying a highly granular database of citizens for targeted harassment, and (4) the possibility that its use is part of a political-corporate nexus linking the BJP to large tech players and platforms.
Part 2, https://thewire.in/tekfog/en/2.html The Wire explains the technology by which Tek Fog is used to hijack a WhatsApp account, and the ease with which the processes involved may be scalable.
operators could remotely access 'inactive' WhatsApp accounts added to the app's contact list and use the hijacked phone number to send targeted messages to their 'frequently contacted' or 'all contacts' lists.. for active accounts.. Once the initial phishing file has been delivered, the activity status of the targeted account can be monitored via the Tek Fog app. When the account becomes 'inactive', it can then be seen by the operatives in an auto-complete search in the app.
The source also demonstrated another advanced feature of Tek Fog: the ability to modify existing news articles to create fake news by changing keywords ('BJP' to 'Congress' or 'Left-wing' to 'Right-wing', for example) and to generate political junk news with a fictitious narrative by modifying the link of a published article.
Ayushman Kaul & Devesh Kumar