Everything you need to know about Legion, the hacker group targeting India

The cyberspace in India is full of buzz at the moment. A hackers group named “Legion” is making headlines after the Rahul Gandhi Twitter hack saga. Not only Gandhi but Twitter handles of Indian National Congress, Vijay Mallya, Barkha Dutt and Ravish Kumar were also hacked. Not much is known about the history of the group. But few media houses have reached out to them and gathered some details. This is a live blog we have started to keep you updated in real time as more interesting details about Legion come out in the open.

Who are Legion?

Legion is a hackers group that broke into the twitter handles of few prominent people in India. It is being speculated that the group picked up its name from the tag line of Anonymous, a famous hackers group. The tag line of Anonymous goes as, “We are Anonymous, we are legion, we don't forgive, we don't forget. Expect us”. In its Twitter escapades, the Legion announced themselves as “We are Legion”.

To which country does the Legion belong?

In an interview with Factor- Daily, the group was asked about their nationality. They did not give any clear-cut answers. The contact person of the group said “If you’re asking if I have an Indian passport- the answer is no.” To another question in which the person from Factor Daily asked for a personal meeting, the group replied “Come down to eastern europe and give us a ring. We can definitely meet.” From the replies, it cannot be concluded that the group is not based in India. They indirectly conveyed their location as Eastern Europe but that might have been done because of the fear of getting caught by law enforcement agencies. Even the cyber security experts are sceptical about the claims of being from Eastern Europe. One thing is clear, the Legion has accepted they are of the Indian origin. So tomorrow, it should not come out as a surprise that these are local hackers trying to build an image around them by passing wrong information.

What is the purpose of Legion?

There is no purpose. In the same interview, the member of Legion confessed “We don’t have a purpose. We just expose people that pop up as potentially interesting”. The group has clearly denied any political affiliation or monetary purpose. Well, they might not have an endgame or a purpose but they do have targets and in last few days these targets have changed multiple times. Initially, they tweeted from a hacked twitter handle that Lalit Modi (former IPL head) was their next target. In an interview with Washington Post, the group mentioned about sansad.nic.in (official website of the Indian parliament) as being their next target. The targets are changing pretty fast for the group.

Has Legion dumped any stolen data over the internet?

Yes, Legion has dumped stolen emails, usernames and passwords of Vijay Mallya and Barkha Dutt over the internet. However, the credibility of the data is yet to be ascertained. There has been no comment from either of the two victims regarding the integrity of the data. Apart from this, Legion has also threatened to release data from Apollo Hospital servers which it has apparently stolen.

Has Legion made any special claims?

As per the hackers group, Indian banking systems is deeply flawed and have been hacked many times. However, the group also clarified they have no intentions to hack into the banking networks. The group also claimed itself to be anarchist which doesn’t go well with and contradicts the “no purpose” statement made by them.