Cyberattacks on two key state institutions foiled

Two major cyberattacks on Pakistan’s key state institutions have been foiled amidst the government’ efforts to establish a Cyber Security Authority.

Managing Director of the National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC), Major General (R) Ali Farhan, informed the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on IT that two major cyberattacks occurred over the past weekend, during which attempts were made to target all government institutions.

NTC teams successfully thwarted both major attacks. He added that during the Pakistan-India conflict, the IT and telecom infrastructure remained completely secure and all cyberattacks were foiled.

Meanwhile, he added that the government is now working on establishing a Cyber Security Authority at the national level.

Earlier, an attempted cyber attack on the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) data was also successfully foiled.

According to a spokesperson, teams from the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) and the PFSA acted jointly to prevent the foreign cyber attack.

Under the leadership of the PITB chairman, technical teams took timely measures to stop a data encryption attack.

The spokesperson said that all records and reports of the PFSA remain completely secure, and the agency implemented all necessary measures to safeguard the data.