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FBI training FIA officers on cyber crime

KARACHI: Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat said on Thursday that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation was training FIA officials in combating cyber crimes, including financial frauds.

Speaking to journalists at a seminar on Cyber Security: Challenges and Solutions, held under the auspices of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Sindh’s IT department, he said besides hacking for fun and various kinds of crime, a major threat to Pakistan was cyber attacks on its official websites. He said Pakistan occupies an important position in the global security scenario and that many groups and nations opposing the country’s growing image were initiating such attacks.

Referring to the Quetta massacre, the minister said a high-level inquiry was underway to investigate the incident and the involvement of a foreign hand could not be ruled out. Earlier, in his inaugural speech, Mr Hayat said the government was committed to transforming Pakistan into a modern, liberal, progressive and forward-looking state.

He said all citizens must be free to exercise their legitimate rights, as envisaged by our founding fathers.

He said Pakistan is at a crossroads of economic development and measures to combat cyber crimes must be improved. He praised the FIA and the Sindh IT department for taking up the issue before this threat became a real danger. He said while the use of the Internet was rapidly increasing in the country, people had to be made aware of its ill effects.

He said another major problem was that criminals had larger space and freedom to operate with latest technology, whereas public-sector departments lagged behind in countermeasures due to their limitations and bureaucratic channels. He stressed the need to link up with global efforts in this regard.

The director general of the FIA, Syed Mohib Asad, highlighted the importance of cyber security and asked the government and the private sector to take this issue seriously.

He said the FIA was organising such seminars in various cities of the country. He said in the next ten years only economically viable countries would survive and most trade and commerce would be managed electronically.

He stressed the highlighted for the computerisation of the security systems and said the FIA was developing an infrastructure for combating Internet crimes. The unit will be named NR3C, he said.

The Head of the national response centre for cyber crimes, NR3C, Amar Hussain Jaferi, said Internet security was needed for all users, from individual operating at home to large multinational firms and sensitive organisations.

He said a cyber threat was a serious issue since it originated from unknown places and its impact could not be assessed in the initial stage.

He said in the recent past nearly all the government sites had been under DOS attack. He informed the audience about the web site www.nr3c.gov.pk, that contains relevant information about cyber crimes and offer online training programs too.

He said efforts were being made by the FIA to create a cyber security net in the country and urged the private sector to allocate resources in this regard.

The IGP of Sindh, Syed Kamal Shah, informed the audience about the need for developing a cyber crime unit for Sindh Police and highlighted the problems faced by the department after the kidnapping of Daniel Pearl when the department was flooded with e-mails making it very difficult for the department to screen true picture of the situation.

Aftab Alam, deputy director of the Sindh IT department, Dr Asad Sheikh of Sindh University and Abid Aziz of UNISYS spoke on the occasion and discussed various solutions to problems faced in the advanced countries at the hands of hackers and Internet-based criminals.—PPI

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