ISLAMABAD: The Cabinet Division has issued a letter to all federal ministries and departments, cautioning them about fraudulent emails and WhatsApp messages falsely attributed to government entities, following a series of reported cyber incidents.
According to the letter addressed to all federal ministries on Sunday, there have been reports of counterfeit emails and messages sent to various ministries from a fraudulent email ID claiming to be “JS (COORD).”
The letter also mentioned that various ministries received emails from forged IDs purportedly from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the PM Secretariat.
The division noted that these deceptive emails contained malicious attachments that urged users to download these files onto their computers.
In the letter, the Cabinet Division advised all federal ministries to exercise caution with respect to these emails and departments while the matter is being investigated at “the highest level.”
Additionally, the letter warned that emails and phone calls claiming to be from the Special Investment Facility Council (SIFC) might also be fraudulent.
The letter cautioned ministries not to accept calls or download files from individuals claiming to be Javed, who posed as a fictitious “deputy director of SIFC and PM secretariat,” and Shehzad Ahmed, who posed as a bogus “assistant director of PMO and SIFC Cell.”
“Any WhatsApp messages or emails from the aforementioned credentials or email ID: shahzadahmad@outlook.com, should be disregarded and blocked,” the letter stated.
The letter further advised that emails referring to the SIFC Apex Committee should only be opened after verifying the sender’s authenticity.
As per the Cabinet Division’s guidance, all systems should have antivirus software installed. The letter mentioned, “Antivirus must be installed on all systems being used for opening emails. As an alternative, Apple MAC may be used or a PC may be installed with an appropriate user-friendly version of GUI-based Linux.”
Furthermore, the letter directed that all ministries that opened the email purportedly from the press secretary of the PMO, dated August 3, 2022, should block the IP address.
