Cyber crimes

We will have to prepare ourselves for more and more crimes involving computer hacking and other modern technology. In a case recently reported to a commercial bank in Lahore, a client complained that his credit card had been misused. It appears the person responsible, who has been caught red-handed, had acquired detailed National Identity Card data and used this to hack credit card information. He later fed this onto his own credit cards, created by using sophisticated machinery which included devices to produce machine readable strips and the other elements which are intended to make a card safe.

It seems quite obvious that NADRA officials are involved in the racket. Without their help, it should have been impossible to invade the privacy of citizens by obtaining such detailed information from what the citizens may have submitted to the organisation responsible for issuing CNICs and other documents. The development is a rather alarming one. Today, more and more people everywhere are using credit cards for purposes of all kinds, hence, we must find some way of making this technology safe. There have been reports of credit card frauds in the past. Shop owners and bank staff are understood to have been involved. But the involvement of NADRA, as a major official body, puts a whole new twist on the problem. If they are willing, and able to give out information, in exchange, no doubt, for their own share of the reward, we are obviously in very deep trouble. It is hoped that a full investigation will take place within NADRA to uncover who was responsible for what happened and how the identity card information was leaked out.

This can be dangerous in other ways as well. It could help terrorists replicate cards or gain access to identities which are not their own. The potential for fraud is immense. While the FIA already has a cyber crime unit, we must consider if it is working properly and what must be done to improve it.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2012.