Pakistan warns of cyberattack risks to government, financial and critical digital systems

Pakistan’s National Cyber Emergency Response Team (National CERT) has issued a cybersecurity advisory warning of potential cyberattacks targeting government departments, financial institutions and other critical digital systems across the country.

According to details, vulnerabilities in eMudhra’s digital security certificates have raised concerns about potential cyberattacks against government organisations, financial institutions and critical information infrastructure.

The advisory has revealed that eight private security keys belonging to eMudhra’s certificate authority have been compromised. Six of these keys were used for Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificates, while the remaining two were used for code signing.

The compromised keys could potentially be exploited to create fraudulent digital certificates, impersonate websites and online services, intercept internet traffic, conduct surveillance and manipulate data.

National CERT has directed relevant organisations to immediately update their operating systems, web browsers and software, block affected certificates and update their security trust stores.

The advisory also calls for precautionary measures for mobile applications, computer software and other systems that maintain separate certificate stores.

According to the advisory, organisations have been instructed to monitor suspicious certificates, unusual network activity and unexpected connection redirections.

They have also been urged to report suspected incidents involving fraudulent certificates or data interception to National CERT Pakistan.