The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) has arrested a gang in Rawalpindi for selling the sensitive data of bureaucrats and personnel of key state institutions to foreign parties, the Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology was told on Thursday.
Briefing the committee, an NCCIA additional director said the gang had been collecting information on senior officials and selling it abroad in return for money. He said the arrests were made recently.
The committee was informed that the group targeted bureaucrats and high-ranking officials from top institutions.
Separately, the committee recommended the development of a dedicated messaging super app for government officials. It directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to begin work on the app.
Last week, the National CERT issued the National Cyber Security Handbook 2026-27 under the Pakistan Information Security Framework 2026, barring government employees from uploading classified documents to public AI tools.
Officials may use only AI platforms approved by their departments and cannot share government email content, software source code, or citizens’ personal information on public tools, as sensitive data risks leaks and unauthorised use.
Furthermore, employees must remove names and other sensitive information from AI prompts and files before submitting them to such tools, reducing the risk of exposing confidential details through these platforms.
Any accidental disclosure of confidential information must be reported immediately to the relevant IT or cybersecurity team, according to the National CERT, so that officials can respond quickly to potential data exposure.
