Pakistani Hacking Team 'Celestial Force' Spies on Indian Gov't, Defense

Cisco Talos attributes a persistent espionage campaign named Operation Celestial Force to a Pakistan-based APT called Cosmic Leopard, active since 2016 and targeting Indian government, defense, and related technology organizations using multi-platform malware (GravityRAT on Android and Mac/Windows components, and the HeavyLift loader). Attackers rely on spear-phishing and social-media engagement to deliver malicious apps or lure victims into uploading data to attacker-controlled cloud storage; recommended mitigations include using official app stores for Android and applying layered visibility and endpoint defenses on Windows.