ISLAMABAD, Dec 7: The government has formed a high-level investigation team to check the hacking of several government websites allegedly by the self-styled “Indian Cyber Army”, sources in Federal Investigation Agency told Dawn on Tuesday.

The decision to investigate the hacking of official websites was taken after reports of a 'cyber war' between India and Pakistan appeared in media.

The team headed by FIA's Additional Director Mian Idrees is collecting data from National Telecommunication Corporation to trace the hackers.

A senior FIA official said the agency's team which included computer experts had checked the authenticity of the internet report with the National Telecommunication Corporation network which hosted a majority of the government websites.

“The FIA will also seek assistance of Interpol if involvement of Indian hackers is proved,” he said.

More than 50 websites of different government departments were attacked allegedly by Indian hackers over the past three months.

There are reports that the self-styled “Indian Cyber Army” reportedly hacked at least 35 government websites on Tuesday. The Pakistani government took immediate action to restore the websites.

The hacked websites carried a message reading “Hacked by Indian Cyber Army”. It was accompanied by a photograph of US soldiers raising a flag on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima during World War II, but the US flag has been digitally converted into the Indian national flag.

Some media reports said that Pakistani hackers who called themselves “the Pakistani Cyber Army” had allegedly hacked the website of India's top police agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The group also sent a message to Indian hackers that the CBI site had been hacked to avenge their assault on Pakistani websites.

The CBI website was attacked on Friday and the hackers managed to keep it down till Saturday.