Evidence Planted on Laptops of Jailed Indian Activists, Says Forensics Firm Arsenal Consulting
7th July 2021
The report details use of the NetWire malware, traces its installation to a specific email from February 2016, and offers evidence of extensive communication with a command-and-control server. It also identifies 14 documents that were delivered to a hidden folder by NetWire. That folder was later moved from a volume created by NetWire onto the laptop’s main Windows volume.
The documents are emails to and from Gadling, many of which detail planned operations, discuss funding those operations, identify “soft targets” to be targeted, and mention other activists who can assist in these endeavours.
Arsenal’s report states that none of the 14 documents “were ever interacted with in any legitimate way on Mr. Gadling’s computer, either in their original location on the tertiary volume or in their current location on the Windows volume.”
Nor could the firm find any evidence that the documents were ever opened!