Privacy breach: ‘Hacker’ arrested for leaking private data

‘He had uploaded information on a cellular company’s consumers over the internet’.


Asad Kharal April 04, 2014
‘He had uploaded information on a cellular company’s consumers over the internet’. PHOTO: FILE

LAHORE:


A man was arrested on Wednesday for hacking into a cellular company’s database and uploading the information of its subscribers on a website.


Mubashar Shahzad, a resident of Kasur, was arrested after the National Response Centre for Cyber Crime (NR3C) of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) traced his IP (internet protocol) address, FIA Director Usman Anwar told The Express Tribune.

He said Umair Qazi, a senior manager of a cellular company, had filed a complaint with the FIA a few days ago. The complainant said information on company’s consumers till 2006 had been leaked over the internet.

“A technical/forensic analysis found that the website [www.earlysms.com] was being hosted by hosterpk. The FIA traced the IP address, email address and phone number of the suspect through the host company,” he said.

He said an FIA team had arrested Shahzad in a raid after they traced the IP address to a shop in Ghalla Mandi, Noorpur, Kasur.

“The team seized computers containing folders named Warid data… two desktop computers, hard drives and portable passport drives were seized from the shop.”

He said the NR3C laboratory in Lahore found that the seized drives contained the cellular network’s database.

Anwar said the website had been blocked.

Murder suspects arrested from airport

Immigration wing of the FIA on Thursday arrested two men wanted for a murder from Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore.

Federal Investigation Agency Director Usman Anwar told The Express Tribune that Muhammad Arshad and Shahid Zafarullah Bhinder, residents of Lohianwala, Gujranwala, were on their way to Muscat when they were arrested.

He said Arshad and Bhinder had allegedly shot dead Head Constable Khalid Hussain and injured his cousin and two nieces on July 22, 2009.

A case was registered against Arshad and Bhinder on a complaint filed by Yasir Hussain, a brother of the deceased.

Anwar said their names had been placed on the exit control list by the Ministry of Interior on the request of Aroop police, Gujranwala.

He said the suspects were in Gujranwala police’s custody.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 4th, 2014.

COMMENTS (2)

Israr ul Haq | 9 years ago | Reply

A/Salam,

Good to know the FIA is doing its duty regarding the cybercrimes as well. We were the company hosting the malicious website and I will applaud the way the agency dealt with the issue. Normally in Pakistan you assume the agencies do not care about other people even if it is not entirely their fault but kudos to FIA for understanding the situation and then working alongside us to catch the culprits.

Dawood Khan | 10 years ago | Reply

Thank you for informing! :)

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