Govt warns against Russia-backed APT hackers activities

ISLAMABAD: After reports about Israeli hackers’ activities in Pakistan, Russian hackers are also reported working to steal sensitive information of Pakistanis, citing sources ARY News reported on Sunday.

According to sources, Russia’s Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) hackers targeting Pakistan’s government institutions.

According to sources, federal government has dispatched a circular to all provincial governments, ministries and divisions warning against these activities.

The circular advised steps to avoid cyber-attacks of the Russia-backed hacking network, sources said.

“APT hackers striving to get access to sensitive information,” according to the government circular. It advises using separate servers for offline and online networks.

“The location of all types of files should be kept in sight and incoming traffic of Internet and the user’s control should be strengthened,” circular further advised.

Govt letter has also recommended keeping use of Internet restricted to few people and before using a software, it should be checked through digital code signing.

The circular also advises keeping backup of the sensitive data at any cost.

“The passwords must be changed regularly at the administrator’s level,” it advised. “The entities should prepare a comprehensive plan to tackle any emergency situation,” the government recommended.

It is to be mentioned here that recently a government circular had advised to avoid exchange of personal information with suspected companies while advising to keep guard against Israeli hacking activities.

According to cyber security guidelines, personal information and documents should not be shared with unauthorized websites. The guidelines also suggest avoiding click at unknown links for protection from hacking.

Moreover, unidentified and suspicious Applications avoided to be installed at devices and also ignoring using public WIFI as precaution.