HEC alerts students against fake news

HEC says its website was not hacked

ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) on Monday alerted students and faculty members about false information being circulated through WhatsApp and other social media forums about the education sector and has advised them to verify all information with the commission.

In a statement on Monday, the commission clarified that contrary to some reports, the HEC website has not been hacked. Terming the screenshots circulating online as “fake” and consisting of “crude photoshop images designed by some persons pushing anti-education agendas”, it said that these images were then circulated through WhatsApp and other social media platforms.

“These images pretend to be screenshots of the HEC website, but are just manipulations of other downloaded content from the website,” the commission said, adding that they aim to advocate a lowering of educational standards in the country such as cancellation of exams, cancelling all educational activities including online education, or disrupting admissions or scholarship processes.

Acknowledging that there have been cyber-attacks on the HEC website, particularly some which originated from servers outside the country, the body said that their technical teams have been working around the clock to ward off these attacks. All these activities have also been reported to the cybercrime unit of the Federal Investigation Agency, it said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2020.