Foreign hackers are planning cyber attack in Pakistan ahead of elections

All the prominent websites of Pakistan such as those of Government and media groups are under major threat of cyber attack ahead of upcoming elections 2018.

Concerned authorities of Government recently issued a handout and sent it to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) about the concern that Israel and Russia might launch a cyber attack against Pakistan in order to influence general elections. They might steal important voter information.

Elections will be held in four other countries as well which are Brazil, Sweden, Ireland, and Malaysia. The hackers intend to steal people’s data and are active in Russia and Israel.

According to a letter sent to PTA and internet providing companies, the websites of political parties, private media houses and Government website may get attacked.

The companies that provide internet services in Pakistan have been urged to take strict measures to heighten their security. In the past, similar cyber attacks have been carried out in US and Germany amidst elections.

Facebook also vowed to help Pakistan and other countries ahead of elections by rolling AI tools that would prevent the spread of false news and will also delete fake accounts.

Cyber criminals have made serious efforts to disrupt national elections around the world over the past many years. They have tried to spread fake news campaigns and also tried hacking official emails. So, these incidents are not very common.

NADRA’s e voting system can also fall prey to cyber attack as countries like US have also tried such software but concerning the cyber attack, they withdrew from it. It needs strict security measures to be improvised to ensure there is no such cyber attack.