The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in ISLAMABAD has been the target of a cyberattack, prompting the government to issue a security warning.
Employees of the commission have been told not to use email following the cyberattack.
The security message urges all ECP personnel to delete any emails that appear suspicious.
It also warns that if they open suspicious emails, hackers could gain access to sensitive commission data.
The ECP staff has been instructed to disregard any anonymous correspondence.
On July 6, ECP Information Security Specialist Naveed Ahmed Kandhir issued a warning in which he included a screenshot of an email addressed to a commission employee with an attached RAR file named “Cabinet” and a request to open it.
The watchdog group said that someone was sending emails to all of the commission’s employees.
The ECP claimed it was a “ransomware attack” designed to steal data.
Employees were instructed by the commission to delete such messages as spam and not respond to them.
The National Institutional Facilitation Technologies (NIFT) blundered last month, putting Pakistan’s national security at risk again.
Despite the abundance of digital technology, the banking system was forced to return to a manual system after cyber attackers breached the security of the cheque-clearing organisation and gained unauthorised access to data.
The NIFT is still working to fully restore normal functioning seven days after the cyberattack happened.
Checks are being cleared by hand across the country, while electronic payment services are still down.
According to a statement released by the NIFT, no “significant compromise” of the organization’s data or systems occurred.
However, the remark implies that there was a security violation, even if it was minor.
To combat the growing cyber risks to international peace and security, Pakistan argued in May at a UN Security Council “Arria-Formula” meeting that a legally enforceable instrument that addressed the interests of all states was the best solution.
“Cyberattacks are taking place with increased intensity across the entire spectrum of our social, economic, and political domains,” Ambassador Aamir Khan, Deputy Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN, told the assembled group.
Using the Arria formula, named for a former Venezuelan UN ambassador named Diego Arria, Albania and the United States brought together 15 council members to discuss “Responsibility and Responsiveness of States to Cyberattacks on Critical Infrastructure.”
The Arria formula is a low-stakes method of gathering public feedback that the council might use to tailor its deliberations. Ambassador Aamir Khan stated that the Security Council is currently paralysed and unable to handle the concerns posed by cyberattacks.
As a result, “it would be salient to suggest that only a legally binding instrument tailored exclusively to address the specific conditions and interests of all states would be the best way forward,” he said.
