According to a report, the private database of a company used by hundreds of restaurants in Pakistan has been breached by hackers, compromising the personal information of 2.2 million Pakistani citizens. The hackers have put this data up for sale online and even provided samples of citizens’ information in their advertisements.
The compromised citizen data includes contact numbers and credit card details. The restaurant industry of the country widely relies on hacked software. Such personal details of the citizens are also available for purchase on the Internet.
The hackers are demanding a payment of 2 Bitcoins for this stolen data. It is equivalent to approximately $54,000, considering the current value of the bitcoin. In Pakistani rupees, this amounts to over Rs15 million.
As of now, the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FBR) cybercrime unit has not received any complaints regarding this incident.
It’s worth noting that the federal government recently issued a cyber security advisory. It urged the IT and financial institutions, as well as regulators, to avoid collaborating with or using Indian-origin artificial intelligence (AI) and information and communication technology (ICT) products. The government cited concerns about potential threats to Pakistan’s critical information infrastructure, including the banking sector, arising from the use of such products. This could involve backdoors or malware for data collection, posing a risk of Indian infiltration into Pakistan’s information systems.
