New Delhi, May 18 -- Shortly after Indian jets fired cruise missiles at terror targets deep inside Pakistan to launch Operation Sindoor on May 7, officials in Delhi mobilised for a parallel battle in the digital realm. Government cyber teams tripled in size overnight to counter what became an unprecedented flood of disinformation-including sophisticated deepfakes- while simultaneously coordinating cybersecurity for critical infrastructure, particularly within the financial sector. For the first time, senior officials have revealed to HT the full digital dimension of the four-day conflict, which the government now classifies as India's first experience with "war in the age of social media." The measures included a flurry of near-immediate takedown orders against narrative falsely claiming Indian military casualties, and defensive protocols that included the extraordinary step of temporarily taking offline at least two small financial institutions deemed vulnerable to cyberattacks. "We were prepared because we saw a similar online campaign during the G20," said a senior security official with direct knowledge of the operations, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Since that time, we had about 15-20 team members in the IT ministry who work at countering this," the official added. P6...