A spokesman for the National Response Team to Emergency Cybernes of Pakistan (NCERT) confirmed on Tuesday that they had not informed infractions by any government agency or private organization after an important incident of exposure to global data that affects 184 million Internet users.
NCERT issued a notice with respect to a violation of massive data that involves a publicly encrypted and accessible file that contains more than 184 million credentials of unique accounts, according to Arab news.
The exposed data include user names, passwords, email addresses and URLs linked to services such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, along with several government portals, banking institutions and health platforms worldwide.
“From now on, we have not received any data violations report from any private government or organization in Pakistan,” said Syed Imran Haider, Ncert spokesman.
He added that the team remained “vigilant, in contact with all relevant departments, and working throughout the day” to monitor the situation. “We are actively committed to Global Certs and international cybersecurity platforms,” he said.
It is believed that the filtered database is compiled using infotealer malware, malicious software designed to extract confidential data from compromised systems. The data were left unprotected, stored in flat text without encryption or password safeguards.
In response, NCERT has advised all users to change their passwords, particularly those reused in multiple services, and to enable multifactor authentication in confidential accounts.
“Users should also consider using unique and complex passwords for each online service and avoiding storing passwords in unprotected files,” Haider added.
Cybersecurity experts have warned that Pakistani users run the risk of identity theft, kidnapping of accounts and financial losses due to the exposure of delicate login credentials.
Dr. Shahid Sultan, a cybersecurity expert, declared that bank and financial accounts could be particularly vulnerable to unauthorized transactions.
“Users and organizations are urged to remain attentive, monitor the login activities for irregularities and act on the precautionary measures recommended by NCERT,” said Dr. Sultan.
