ISI Expands Honey-Trap Operations In India, Turns To AI
NEW DELHI — The ISI’s honey-trap module has become one of India’s biggest security challenges, with Indian agencies arresting citizens and officials accused of sharing sensitive information with Pakistan’s spy agency after being honey-trapped.
While Indian agencies have been dealing with the issue for years, a new challenge is emerging as the ISI seeks to make its honey-trapping modules completely home-grown and use Artificial Intelligence-generated images and videos.
An Intelligence Bureau official said the move would pose a fresh challenge for Indian agencies. For years, the honey-trapping modules were being operated from Faridkot in Pakistan.
Between 2015 and 2019, the ISI had earmarked a budget of Rs 3,000 crore to run the module, indicating the scale of its operations, the official said.
The ISI now wants the modules to be shifted out of Pakistan and operated entirely from within India. According to an official, this is in line with the ISI’s policy of ensuring that terror-related activities targeting India are home-grown so that the trail does not lead back to Pakistan.
The official said the ISI would not focus primarily on major cities to establish such modules. Instead, it would look at smaller towns and villages, where such operations could attract less attention.
An official said the ISI had earlier recruited people in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh who reported to handlers in Faridkot. It is now looking to expand into towns in southern India as well.
The main focus would remain on smaller towns, where recruits could be easier to find by offering them substantial amounts of money, the official said.
Another official said recent investigations found that the ISI had used pornographic material and nudity to trap people and extract sensitive information.
The ISI had also recruited attractive women to set traps and obtain information, particularly relating to the defense forces, the official said.
With the advent of Artificial Intelligence, however, the job has become easier. AI-generated images and videos of women could be created to set traps, posing a bigger challenge for Indian agencies because, in some cases, they may not even be dealing with a real person behind the identity used to target a victim, the official said.
The intelligence agencies are already dealing with the honey-trapping problem on a significant scale, while recent Intelligence reports suggest that the ISI has also set its sights on newly appointed Agniveers.
Such personnel could be vulnerable because of limited awareness, particularly on the technological front. Officials said AI-generated images and videos could make it difficult for them to distinguish between what is real and what is fake.
Officials said the ISI’s primary interest is to gather information about the Indian armed forces. Such information could be used to gain an advantage during a conflict and could also be used to embarrass the Indian armed forces.
Post Operation Sindoor, cases of honey-trapping have increased significantly, officials said. The operation was carried out in response to the Pahalgam terror attack and exposed the Pakistani ecosystem while also calling out Pakistan’s nuclear bluff.
“Pakistanis are hell-bent on getting back and hence these honey-trapping exercises have only gone up ten-fold so that the Indian armed forces could be embarrassed,” an official said. (IANS)
