Data from almost all Pakistani banks 'stolen' in massive cyber security breach

In the disguise of Pakistani Army officials, members of a gang used to withdraw money from banks with the help of stolen data of account holders. They have been arrested.

Pic Courtesy: Reuters

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) of Pakistan has revealed that data from almost all banks in the country were recently stolen in a major security breach. According to Pakistan-based Geo News, FIA cyber-crimes wing director, Captain Mohammad Shoaib, confirmed that most of the banks were affected by the security breach.

The report further said that in another similar breach, details of several credit and debit cards of Pakistani nationals were released on the dark web. Following the development, some of the banks had blocked all international transactions using debit or credit cards.

According to the FIA, more than 100 cases of security breach in bank accounts were registered in the recent past, compelling a high-level investigation. Several arrests were also reportedly made. The FIA has summoned bank officials in connection with the breach.

Members of a gang were reportedly arrested last week. In the disguise of Pakistani Army officials, the members of the gang used to withdraw money from banks with the help of stolen data of account holders.

The report in Geo News quoted Captain Shoaib as saying that the onus of security of account holders’ information lies with the banks.

Speaking to Dawn News, he said that the recent incident showed the need of improvement in the security systems of banks in Pakistan.

A meeting of all major banks in the country has reportedly been convened by the central investigating agency. The report in Dawn News further said that one of the major banks of Pakistan had suspended its mobile banking system following the breach.

In 2016, a major cyber theft, amounting to $81 million, had hit the central bank of Bangladesh. Hackers from North Korea and Pakistan were reportedly involved in the biggest cyber bank heist of Bangladesh.