Central agencies to rope in VPN providers in probe into bomb threats to flights

Central agencies in India are set to approach VPN service providers in an effort to trace the origins of recent bomb hoax calls targeting Indian flights.

Sources from the Civil Aviation Ministry revealed that many of these threatening calls have utilised virtual private networks (VPNs), complicating the tracking process. The agencies have expressed concern over the increasing frequency of these hoax threats, which have reportedly been linked to IP addresses located in countries such as London and Germany.

This trend has prompted authorities to seek cooperation from VPN providers to help identify the original source of the calls.

This comes after 20 flights of Indian carriers — both domestic and international — received bomb threats this week. On Monday, three international flights were threatened, followed by 10 more on Tuesday, and at least six additional threats were reported the following day. All threats were later declared false after thorough security checks.

In the wake of multiple bomb threats to Indian flights, authorities have identified a suspect linked to an X handle, ‘schizobomber777’. The handle was created just days ago and has since been suspended after posting seven hoax messages that triggered significant air security alerts.

The suspect allegedly used VPN services to obscure their location, with IP addresses traced back to London and Germany. This routing made it challenging for investigators to pinpoint the exact origin of the threats, as the IP addresses “bounced off” various countries.

Multiple agencies, including the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), are collaborating to identify the individual behind the X handle. They are also exploring connections to other recent hoax bomb threats that have targeted flights.

Union Minister of Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu confirmed that the government is actively monitoring the situation. He noted that Mumbai Police have arrested a minor linked to threats against three flights, emphasising that all individuals responsible for these disruptions will be identified and prosecuted accordingly.