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Does Pakistan Have Cyber Warfare Capability?
Recent reports of Russian hacks of the American Democratic Party's election campaign staff to influence the outcome of US elections have brought international cyber espionage in sharp focus once again. How many nations have such capabilities? What are their names? Are India and Pakistan among them?
Pakistan is believed to be among a couple of dozen nations with serious cyber espionage capabilities. This belief has been strengthened among the cyber security community since Operation Arachnophobia is suspected to have originated in Pakistan.
Bloodmoney: A Novel of Espionage:
Washington Post columnist David Ignatius frequently writes about the activities of intelligence agencies and often cites "anonymous" intelligence sources to buttress his opinions. He is also a novelist who draws upon his knowledge to write spy thrillers.
Ignatius's 2011 fiction "Bloodmoney: A Novel of Espionage" features a computer science professor Dr. Omar who teaches at a Pakistani university as the main character. Omar, born in Pakistan's tribal region of South Waziristan, is a cyber security expert. One of Omar's specialties is his deep knowledge of SWIFT, a network operated by Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication that tracks all international financial transactions, including credit card charges.
Omar's parents and his entire family are killed in a misdirected US drone strike. Soon after the tragedy, several undercover CIA agents are killed within days after their arrival in Pakistan. American and Pakistani investigations seek the professor's help to solve these murders. Ignatius's novel ends with the identification of the professor as the main culprit in the assassinations of CIA agents.
Operation Arachnophobia:
In 2014, researchers from FireEye, a Silicon Valley cyber security company founded by a Pakistani-American, and ThreatConnect teamed up in their investigation of "Operation Arachnophobia" targeting Indian computers. It features a custom malware family dubbed Bitterbug that serves as the backdoor for stealing information. Though the researchers say they have not identified the specific victim organizations, they have spotted malware bundled with decoy documents related to Indian issues, according to DarkReading.com.
The reason it was dubbed "Operation Arachnophobia" has to do with the fact that variants of the Bitterburg malware detected by the researchers included build paths containing the strings “Tranchulas” and “umairaziz27”, where Tranchulas is the name of an Islamabad-based Pakistani security firm and Umair Aziz is one of its employees.
Operation Hangover:
Operation Arachnophobia targeted Indian officials. It appears to have been Pakistan's response to India's Operation Hangover that targeted Pakistan. Investigations by Norway-based security firm Norman have shown that the Operation Hangover attack infrastructure primarily was used as a means to extract security-related information from Pakistan and, to a lesser extent, China.
"Targeted attacks are all too common these days, but this one is certainly noteworthy for its failure to employ advanced tools to conduct its campaigns," said Jean Ian-Boutin, malware researcher at ESET security company. "Publicly available tools to gather information on infected systems shows that the attackers did not go to great lengths to cover their tracks. On the other hand, maybe they see no need to implement stealthier techniques because the simple ways still work."
Attack Easier Than Defense:
The fact that cyber attacks so often succeed suggests that it's easier to attack a system than to defend it. By the time such attacks are detected, it's already too late. A lot of valuable information has already been lost to attackers.
However, it's still very important to possess the cyberattack capability as a deterrent to attacks. Those who lack the capacity to retaliate invite even more brazen cyberattacks.
Need for International Treaties:
Cyberattacks on infrastructure can have disastrous consequences with significant loss of human life. Disabling power grids and communication networks can hurt a lot of people and prevent delivery of aid to victims of disaster. It's important that nations work together to agree on some norms for what is permissible and what is not before there is a catastrophe.
Summary:
About 30 nations, including US, UK, France, Germany, Russia, China, India, Iran, Israel and Pakistan, possess cyber espionage and attack capabilities. Growth and proliferation of such technologies present a serious threat to world peace. There is an urgent need for nations of the world to come together to agree on reasonable restrictions to prevent disasters.
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Comment by Riaz Haq on June 28, 2021 at 9:31am
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IISS: Cyber Capabilities and National Power: A Net Assessment
London-based THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES
https://www.iiss.org/blogs/research-paper/2021/06/cyber-capabilitie...
India has frequently been the victim of cyber attacks, including on its critical infrastructure, and has attributed a significant proportion of them to China or Pakistan. CERT-In reported, for example, that there were more than 394,499 incidents in 2019,44 and 2020 saw an upsurge in attacks from China.45 Of particular concern to the Indian government are cyber attacks by North Korea that use Chinese digital infrastructure.46 The vast major- ity of the cyber incidents flagged by CERT-In appear to have been attempts at espionage,47 but they could also have resulted in serious damage to the integrity of
Indian networks and platforms. In 2020, India had the second-highest incidence of ransomware attacks in the world48 and the government banned 117 Chinese mobile applications because of security concerns.49
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Public statements by Indian officials and other open- source material indicate that India has developed rela- tively advanced offensive cyber capabilities focused on Pakistan. It is now in the process of expanding these capabilities for wider effect.
India reportedly considered a cyber response against Pakistan in the aftermath of the November 2008 terror- ist attacks in Mumbai, with the NTRO apparently at the forefront of deliberations.67 A former national security advisor has since indicated publicly that India pos- sesses considerable capacity to conduct cyber-sabotage operations against Pakistan,68 which appears credible
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Overall, India’s focus on Pakistan will have given it useful operational experience and some viable regional offensive cyber capabilities. It will need to expand its cyber-intelligence reach to be able to deliver sophisti- cated offensive effect further afield, but its close collab- oration with international partners, especially the US, will help it in that regard.
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Raj Chengappa and Sandeep Unnithan, ‘How to Punish Pakistan’, India Today, 22 September 2016, https://www. indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/20161003-uri- attack-narendra-modi-pakistan-terror-kashmir-nawaz-sharif- india-vajpayee-829603-2016-09-22.
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Pegasus was used to hack mobiles of Pak officials
https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/news/pegasus-used-hack-mobiles-p...
New Delhi: Mobile phones of around 30 Pakistani government servants, who include serving army generals, officials attached with the ISI and senior bureaucrats, were hacked into by using Pegasus spying software during April and May 2019.
Pegasus takes control of the infected phone by entering the system through WhatsApp.
While the Pakistan government has so far kept the matter under wraps, possibly to avoid panic and public embarrassment, it, however, issued a special secret advisory to heads of departments, a copy of which was also sent to the secretary of Prime Minister Imran Khan, asking them to replace all phones purchased before 10 May 2019 immediately and prohibiting the transfer of official documents by using WhatsApp.
The hacking of the mobile numbers of around 30 officials—the exact number is known only to the group/individual/organisation that hacked into the phones—has sparked a frenzy among government officials because of speculation that key documents and vital information might have landed in unintended hands and offices across borders.
Information and classified documents that are generally found in the mobile phones of top government officials, are regarded as invaluable by both foreign government agencies and private operators as they give valuable insights into otherwise closely guarded policies and plans.
The Sunday Guardian reached out to the NSO Group, the Israel-based company that owns Pegasus, with a detailed questionnaire regarding the recent development. In a statement, the NSO Group said: “To protect the ongoing public safety missions of its agency customers and given significant legal and contractual constraints, NSO Group is not able to disclose who is or is not a client or discuss specific uses of its technology, as explained in its Transparency Statement of Principles. However, the company’s products are licensed only to government intelligence and law enforcement agencies for the sole purpose of preventing and investigating terror and serious crime. NSO’s technology is only licensed after a thorough vetting process that goes well beyond the legal requirements that we follow. All potential customers must meet strict export authority regulations before any sale, in addition to NSO’s internal vetting process that includes a focus on human rights. NSO’s governance framework aligns us with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and sets the highest standards in the cyber intelligence industry, embedding human rights due diligence into everything we do.”
This newspaper also shared its questions with the Pakistan high commission in New Delhi, and Pakistan’s Ministry of Information Technology & Telecom for response. However, no response was shared until the time the story went to press.
The NSO group gained some kind of notoriety after it emerged that Pegasus had infected at least 1,400 numbers across the world through WhatsApp. Facebook, the owner of WhatsApp, has already filed a suit against NSO in US courts for illegally breaking into WhatsApp.
Despite the controversy it has attracted in recent times, “Q Cyber Technologies”, the parent company of NSO, continues to remain active in the world of cyber espionage. It was one of the main sponsors of “ISS World Asia”—touted as the world’s largest gathering of law enforcement agencies, intelligence analysts, electronic surveillance and intelligence gathering—which was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in the first week of December.
In the said event, “Q Cyber Technologies” had defined itself as a company that equipped select intelligence agencies, militaries and law enforcement organisations around the world with the strategic, tactical and analytical technology capabilities required to ensure the success of their operations in fighting crime and terrorism.
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#Pakistan #ISI has a record of discovering & breaking up #US #CIA spy agents rings: “Historic Pakistani success in identifying people working for the CIA was a driving force behind the cable, the people familiar with the matter said.” #intelligence https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/cia-warning-human-...
Counterintelligence officials at the CIA’s headquarters in Langley, Va., have dispatched a cable to officers around the world cautioning them to take greater care in handling human sources, who are at risk of being captured or killed by rival intelligence services, according to people familiar with the matter.
The cable reflected a general concern among the agency’s leadership that its operations officers should pay more attention to protecting their agents, while also recognizing that they have to aggressively recruit spies and informants to perform their intelligence-collection mission, according to the people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a sensitive matter.
Such notices to the field — known as worldwide stations and bases cables (WWSB) — are routine, former officials said. People familiar with the recent cable said it wasn’t prompted by any new penetration of a spy network. But, they added, the cable underscored concerns that CIA officers may be putting recruitment ahead of basic source-protection techniques.
Historic Pakistani success in identifying people working for the CIA was a driving force behind the cable, the people familiar with the matter said.
The CIA is under renewed pressure to recruit and maintain effective spy networks in Pakistan, following the U.S. withdrawal from neighboring Afghanistan and the country’s takeover by the Taliban. Maintaining reliable human sources will be crucial to the Biden administration’s plans to keep tabs on terrorist threats without a military presence on the ground, former officials said.
The CIA cable was first reported by the New York Times.
“These go out every two or three years on counterintelligence concerns. They’re not unusual but are still important reminders to officers to tighten up on tradecraft,” said Thad Troy, a former CIA operations officer who served as a chief of station in several European capitals. Troy said he had not seen the recent cable.
In an unusually revealing detail, the cable noted the number of agents killed by foreign intelligence services. That level of specificity might ordinarily be excluded from a cable that is widely disseminated, as this one was, but it was included to get the attention of CIA officers, who might otherwise regard the bulletin as a routine advisory, people familiar with the message said.
When asked about the cable, a CIA spokeswoman declined to comment.
The CIA has suffered some disastrous penetrations of its spy networks in recent years. In 2011, the agency launched a mole-hunt after an informant in China told his American handlers that everyone he knew who was helping the U.S. government had been discovered by Chinese authorities, who then forced the agents to work for them.
CIA assets in Iran were also identified and arrested in another penetration around the same time.
In both instances, former officials said that agents were probably discovered because of a breach in the CIA’s covert communications system, which it used to secretly communicate with agents in the field.
By invoking previous failures, the cable was probably meant to admonish current officers not to repeat past mistakes.
“If this is being sent to the workforce [rather than a particular CIA station], the message is, ‘Hey, people, let’s be careful,” said Daniel Hoffman, a former intelligence officer who held senior positions overseas and at headquarters.
Hoffman, who hasn’t seen the cable, said that if the agency wanted to send a more urgent message about an active counterintelligence problem — such as a particular group of sources being compromised — it would handle the matter in a more discreet message to the officers concerned.
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Mr. Modi has used the Israeli spyware to not only spy on his critics at home but also his perceived enemies abroad. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is among the most prominent targets of the Modi government's cyber attacks, according to a recently released Project Pegasus report. The Indian government has neither confirmed nor denied the report. The focus of the report is the use of the Israeli-made spyware by about a dozen governments to target politicians, journalists and activists. The users of the Pegasus software include governments of Bahrain, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, India, Mexico, Hungary, Azerbaijan, Togo and Rwanda.
http://www.riazhaq.com/2022/01/ny-times-modi-bought-israeli-pegasus...
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National Center for Cyber Security For Cyber Threats
Becoming an anonymous personality is a super easy task in the online space. All that one needs to do is hide the IP. The IP address makes it easier to trace online activities. You can find your IP address on What Is My IP. However, just because cyber threats exist, it does not mean one can prevent oneself from engaging in online activities. With proper digital hygiene along with government efforts, a country can mitigate cyber threats.
https://nation.com.pk/2022/07/07/the-role-of-national-center-for-cy...
In 2018, the Government of Pakistan established the National Centre for Cyber Security or NCCS. It was a joint initiative of the Planning Commission and Higher Education Commission. The body currently works in cybercrime forensics, smart devices, and network security.
New ways of committing cyber crimes are emerging with each passing year. Therefore, research and development are critical in fighting different cyber crimes. It is where the role of the National Center for Cyber Security comes in. NCCS deals with both applied and theoretical areas for fighting cybercrime.
It is known for its research on areas like Cyber Reconnaissance, Cybercrime Investigations, Blockchain Security, Digital Forensics, IoT Security, Intrusion Detection Systems, Mobile Phone Security, Internet Security and Privacy, Critical Infrastructure Security and Malware Analysis.
Cyber Security Policy Of Pakistan Is Evolving
In addition to bodies like NCCS, it is also important to have a solid cybersecurity policy. The Government of Pakistan recently approved a new cybersecurity policy to fight electronic crime. The policy will prove to be helpful for both the public and private institutions in fighting cybercrime. The policy will birth a secure cyber ecosystem in the country with the help of new governance and institutional framework. It will additionally support a computer emergency response team and a security operations centre at the institutional, sector and national level.
Further, the Government of Pakistan will work on improving general awareness of cyber security amongst the passes through public awareness campaigns, skill development and training programs.
Why Is Cyber Security Knowledge Important?
Security awareness is important in all sectors, including the domain of cyber security too. The interconnected system is essential to survive in the current digitised world. However, it comes with a risk a cyber security knowledge can mitigate. Without proper cyber security knowledge, it is easy to fall prey to online crime. The result will be that people will start losing their trust in the digital world, which can prove dangerous for any country in the digital age of digitisation.
Further, it is not enough to ensure the technology and infrastructure required to support it. Government should inform the people about the risks and help them fight it. Only through these methods can a country lay a strong foundation for further digitisation of the country.
Pakistan’s ranking on the Global CyberSecurity Index is disappointing. Therefore, the newly brought cyber security policy was a much-needed change to improve its ranking in future studies. With strong cyber security laws, Pakistan can promote easy socio-economic development. Thankfully, the Government of Pakistan is working towards it. For instance, a cyberattack on any Pakistan institution under the new policy will be considered an act of aggression against national sovereignty. The government will take all the necessary steps to punish the offender for dealing with it.
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Ignite Conducts Karachi Qualifier Round of Digital Pakistan Cybersecurity Hackathon 2022
https://propakistani.pk/2022/12/02/ignite-conducts-karachi-qualifie...
Ignite National Technology Fund, a public sector company with the Ministry of IT & Telecom, conducted the qualifier round of Digital Pakistan Cybersecurity Hackathon 2022 in Karachi on 1st December 2022 after conducting qualifier rounds at Quetta and Lahore.
The Cybersecurity Hackathon aims to improve the cybersecurity readiness, protection, and incident response capabilities of the country by conducting cyber drills at a national level and identifying cybersecurity talent for public and private sector organizations.
Dr. Zain ul Abdin, General Manager Ignite, stated that Ignite was excited about organizing Pakistan’s 2nd nationwide cybersecurity hackathon in five cities this year. The purpose of the Cyber Security Hackathon 2022 is to train and prepare cyber security experts in Pakistan, he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Asim Shahryar Husain, CEO Ignite, said, “The goal of the cybersecurity hackathon is to create awareness about the rising importance of cybersecurity for Pakistan and also to identify and motivate cybersecurity talent which can be hired by public and private sector organizations to secure their networks from cyberattacks.”
“There is a shortage of 3-4 million cybersecurity professionals globally. So this is a good opportunity for Pakistan to build capacity of its IT graduates in cybersecurity so that they can boost our IT exports in future,” he added.
Chief guest, Mohsin Mushtaq, Additional Secretary (Incharge) IT & Telecommunication, said, “Digital Pakistan Cybersecurity Hackathon is a step towards harnessing the national talent to form a national cybersecurity response team.”
“Ignite will continue to hold such competitions every year to identify new talent. I would like to congratulate CEO Ignite and his team for holding such a marathon competition across Pakistan to motivate cybersecurity students and professionals all over the country,” he added.
Top cybersecurity experts were invited for keynote talks during the occasion including Moataz Salah, CEO Cyber Talents, Egypt, and Mehzad Sahar, Group Head InfoSec Engro Corp, who delivered the keynote address on Smart InfoSec Strategy.
Panelists from industry, academia, and MoITT officials participated in two panel discussions on “Cyber Threats and Protection Approaches” and “Indigenous Capability & Emerging Technologies” during the event.
The event also included a cybersecurity quiz competition in which 17 teams participated from different universities. The top three teams in the competition were awarded certificates.
41 teams competed from Karachi in the Digital Pakistan Cybersecurity Hackathon 2022.
The top three teams shortlisted after the eight-hour hackathon were: “Team Control” (Winner); “Revolt” (1st Runner-up); and “ASD” (2nd Runner-up).
These top teams will now compete in the final round of the hackathon in Islamabad later this month.
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