Pakistan’s National Cyber Emergency Response Team has issued a nationwide advisory urging heightened cyber vigilance, warning that regional instability could trigger a surge in state-sponsored cyber activity, hacktivism and organized cybercrime targeting critical infrastructure.

The advisory stressed that urgent measures are essential to safeguard national security and public trust, directing all institutions to conduct immediate security audits and strengthen defensive systems.

According to the alert, key sectors including defence, finance and government infrastructure could face sophisticated cyber threats such as spear-phishing campaigns, deepfake-driven disinformation and advanced persistent threats aimed at espionage and service disruption.

The advisory warned that cyberattacks could lead to account takeovers, hijacking of official portals and media accounts to spread false information, and service outages in energy, transport and telecommunications networks.

It also highlighted risks of data breaches targeting government networks, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on public platforms, and spyware embedded in news or financial applications. Social media manipulation and impersonation using artificial media were also identified as major concerns.

To mitigate risks, National CERT directed institutions to adopt multi-factor authentication and passkeys, discontinue SMS-based verification, implement zero-trust security protocols and ensure rapid patching of critical systems.

Organizations were also instructed to update VPNs, firewalls and operating systems, use end-to-end encryption, restrict access from foreign IP ranges to sensitive government systems, and verify the security compliance of third-party vendors.

Additional recommendations include deploying mobile threat defence solutions, enforcing strict access controls in sensitive environments, strengthening data encryption standards, monitoring suspicious external logins and ensuring alternative communication channels and reliable backup systems.

The advisory emphasized that proactive cyber defence is critical to counter espionage and disinformation campaigns, urging both institutions and the public to exercise strict cyber caution and avoid spreading unverified information.