Pakistan has suffered several major cyberattacks and data leaks in recent years, confirmed the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications. In a report presented to the National Assembly, the Ministry said it cannot share full details publicly because of the sensitive nature of the issue but offered to provide a closed-door briefing to lawmakers.
The report revealed that many cyber incidents in the country either go unnoticed or unreported due to weak monitoring systems, shortage of skilled staff and poor security practices at the institutional level.
One of the major breaches highlighted was at the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), where hackers gained access to the core data centre and deleted 21 virtual servers. It took three days to restore operations from the disaster recovery system.
Another serious incident involved the National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC), where an advanced hacking group compromised the Zimbra email platform and impersonated official users. The National Information Technology Board (NiTB) also reported that high-level accounts across federal ministries were hacked, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) faced attacks involving connections to known command-and-control servers.
The Ministry admitted that the main causes behind these breaches include lack of resources, no dedicated cybersecurity staff, weak oversight, and the absence of proper policies and risk management protocols.
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To counter these problems, the government has introduced a new strategy. It has set up a national-level Cyber Emergency Response Team (nCERT) to lead threat detection and response. A National Security Operations Centre (NSOC) has also been created to monitor and manage cyber incidents. Plans are underway to establish six provincial CERTs and three sectoral CERTs while training programmes have been launched to improve cybersecurity skills in ministries and departments.
The Ministry has recommended that dedicated staff and funds should be allocated for cybersecurity. It also proposed appointing a senior cybersecurity lead to directly report to top management. In addition, it called for strict governance structures, clear policies, and regular audits to close security gaps.
