PTA investigates data breach of 115mn Pakistani mobile users

• PTA is trying to verify the authenticity of the claim.
• A Pakistani cybersecurity company discovered a data dump of 115 million Pakistani mobile users' data, which have been put up for sale on the dark web.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is investigating the reported data breach of some 115 million Pakistani mobile users, which is being sold on the dark web for millions of dollars.

“It is still a claim that data of 115 million Pakistani users has been breached but we are trying to verify the authenticity of the claim by someone on the dark web,” stated Chairman PTA Major General (R) Amir Azeem Bajwa, quoted Arab News.

“There are multiple reports we are receiving during our investigation as few claims are surfacing that it is old data,” he added. The chairman said that they have contacted all mobile operators and will be able to verify the report in a week.

Meanwhile, Minister for Telecom, Syed Aminul Haque, has said that the government is taking steps to ensure the safety of cyber data and working on new legislation for the country’s cybersecurity.

The development comes after a Pakistani cybersecurity company discovered a data dump of 115 million Pakistani mobile users' data, which have been put up for sale on the dark web on Friday.

As per rewterz, the company that has found the data dump says that the cybercriminal behind this data breach is demanding $2.1 million for the data.  The company said that it has analyzed the samples of the data dump that has been released on a popular dark web forum. The stolen data includes users' personal details, such as full name, complete address, their mobile numbers as well as their NIC number and Tax number.