A spokesperson for the National Cyber-Urigence Intervention Team (NCERT) of Pakistan confirmed on Tuesday that no violation had been reported by a government agency or a private organization following an important exposure to data on data on 184 million Internet.
NCERT has published a notice concerning a massive data violation involving an unacceptable file accessible to the public containing more than 184 million single account identification Arab news.
The data on display include user names, passwords, email addresses and URLs related to services such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, as well as various government portals, banking institutions and health care platforms.
“For the moment, we have not received any report from data violations from a government or private organization in Pakistan,” said Syed Imran Haider, spokesperson for NCERT.
He added that the team had remained “vigilant, in contact with all the relevant departments, and working 24 hours a day to monitor the situation. “We are actively engaged with global certificates and international cybersecurity platforms,” he noted.
The disclosed database would have been compiled using malware Infostealer, malware designed to extract sensitive data from compromise systems. The data has not been protected, stored in gross text without encryption or password guarantees.
In response, NCERT advised all users to modify their passwords, in particular those reused on several services and to activate multi-factory authentication on sensitive accounts.
“Users must also consider using unique and complex passwords for each online service and avoid storing passwords in unprotected files,” added Haider.
Cybersecurity experts warned that Pakistani users risked identity theft, embezzlement and financial loss due to the exposure of sensitive connection identification information.
Dr. Shahid Sultan, a cybersecurity expert, said that bank and financial accounts could be particularly vulnerable to unauthorized transactions.
“Users and organizations are invited to remain vigilant, to monitor connection activities for irregularities and to act on the precautionary measures recommended by NCERT,” said Dr. Sultan.
