Why is Pakistan targeted in the cyber battlefield by key Asian countries?
Cybercrime in Pakistan has increased by 83% in the past three years, as the nations use the capabilities of their cyber warfare activities that consist of Social-media warfare, Disinformation Campaign, propaganda, and cyber attacks against Pakistan. According to Symantec (the leading global cyber security firm), Pakistan is among the ten top most targeted Regions in the world.
Recently on 3 June 2022, Federal Finance Minister revealed a cyber attack that brought down the Federal Board of revenue’s (FBR) data centre. In a hearing of the Senate Committee, Shaukat Tarin (Pakistani Senator) stated that the system of FBR was hacked by Indian Hackers for 7 days. The hackers bring down all the official websites handled by the tax machinery. This was not the first time; the FBR’s data centre was also hacked by Indian Hackers in the year 2019. To avoid the situation of such attacks in the future, the IT system of FBR is being upgraded.
In the same month of June, another cyber attack came in the limelight that was executed by the Indian hackers. The ARY YouTube channel (one of the leading television networks in Pakistan) was hacked by state-sponsored Indian hackers for some time, during which the Indian hackers also tried to harass. However, the YouTube channel was recovered timely from the hackers.
We all have read many articles about India-Pakistan’s controversial relationship. As this rivalry is ongoing and has no end. Not only India but also the other Asian countries have been targeting Pakistan.
On 5th May 2022, the Global space village news website highlighted, that some Turkish Twitter accounts were operating malicious disinformation campaigns against Pakistan. A Pakistani Twitter user claims that this negative campaign had been operated by making fake accounts pretending to be from Pakistan but allegedly being operated from India.
In April 2021, Cisco Talos observed that MuddyWater (Iranian advanced Persistent Threat Supergroup) also known as “MERCURY” or “Static Kitten” launched a cyber attack against Pakistan through two different delivery systems. One is using a Powershell- based downloader to accept and execute additional PS1 commands from the C2 server and another uses Malware document infection points. This hacking group targeted the nations using a Windows script file (WSF) based remote Trojan (RAT). By using this malware, MuddyWater conducts espionage, steals intellectual property, and commits ransomware attacks against different nations.
In this era of innovation, even major powers like the U.S, Russia, China, and Israel are at risk to a developing spectrum of cyber threats. However, Pakistan is still in the developmental phase of cyber security. Recently On February 21, the Pakistan administration declared about new cybercrime law that could see social media handlers imprisoned for up to five years for posting “Fake News” about Pakistan’s military, judiciary, or public officers. Still, China gives the helping aid to Pakistan in the cyber warfare domain.
