New Delhi,Honey-trapping cases have increased in India over the past few years. Despite repeated warnings and advisories, several officials continue to fall victim to such networks.
An official said that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which operates these networks, has hired several psychologists to identify officials who have access to sensitive information. The objective is to study such individuals, understand their personal problems and vulnerabilities, and then extract information from them.
An Intelligence Bureau official said the ISI is employing psychologists for this purpose and instructing them to create social media accounts using women’s names before identifying potential targets. These highly trained individuals are reportedly skilled at identifying and exploiting officials facing personal problems.
The psychologists first identify officials on social media and then closely study the messages and posts they share.
According to the official, since these individuals are trained psychologists, they can easily understand the mindset of potential targets. Once a target is identified, the ISI-appointed psychologists initiate conversations and show considerable sympathy and understanding toward the officials.
They spend months identifying their vulnerabilities. It reportedly takes around two to three months to gain the trust of the targeted officials. Once a relationship of trust has been established, the officials are asked to install certain applications on their systems.
Most of these applications reportedly contain stealth spyware and malware, some of which are believed to be developed in China.
Officials said honey-trap networks are no longer relying primarily on methods such as financial inducements or intimidation. Instead, they exploit personal vulnerabilities and use emotional closeness and attraction to trap officials who have access to sensitive information. Psychologists are particularly effective in employing these tactics.
The targeted individuals may not even realize that they are being manipulated and can end up sharing sensitive information through digital communication channels.
Recent cases have reportedly shown that exploiting the personal problems of officials has proved effective for the ISI. Such officials may be in vulnerable situations and use social media to vent their frustration. As this method is reportedly proving effective for the ISI, the demand for psychologists in Pakistan has also increased.
The recent rise in cases involving psychologists being used in honey-trap networks has raised concerns among Indian agencies.
An official said the situation is worrying because, despite regular advisories, several officials continue to fall into such traps and even end up installing data-leaking or malware software on their systems.
