PTI Mails possibly being monitored by the Government of Pakistan

With the political situation heating up in Pakistan it seems every effort is being made by the establishment to monitor and track the Pakistani political Cyber Space – As off today some active PTI Social Media team members were shocked to log into their Insaf.pk / Gmail accounts to be presented with an alarming warning that it might be possible that the Govt of Pakistan / agencies might be monitoring their activities

WARNING: We Believe State-Sponsored Attackers may be attempting to compromise your account or computer

WARNING: We Believe State-Sponsored Attackers may be attempting to compromise your account or computer

Google immeditely directs the user to a help file “Your account could be at risk of state-sponsored attacks” which helps explain that that state-sponsored attackers might actually be attempting to compromise the account or computer. They outline detailed steps on how to secure the respective accounts, but what is worrying that all these accounts that were being flagged by Google to be potentially compromised already use Google 2-Step SMS Verification system and take all the necessary precautions to ensure that their accounts are extensively secure

Digging a little further we came across a Google Online Security blog where an entry was posted as latest as June 5th 2012  “Security warnings for suspected state-sponsored attacks” it is when Google has started to warn any of its users where they suspect the system might actually be compromised – the blog entry further explains the reasoning behind this red-warning displayed on top of their google accounts

We are constantly on the lookout for malicious activity on our systems, in particular attempts by third parties to log into users’ accounts unauthorized. When we have specific intelligence—either directly from users or from our own monitoring efforts—we show clear warning signs and put in place extra roadblocks to thwart these bad actors.  We believe may be the target of state-sponsored attacks.

You might ask how we know this activity is state-sponsored. We can’t go into the details without giving away information that would be helpful to these bad actors, but our detailed analysis—as well as victim reports—strongly suggest the involvement of states or groups that are state-sponsored.

What this means?

This actually goes to show that it might be possible that the Govt of Pakistan is slowly and very determinedly edging closer to compromising personal security of all Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf communications. Possibly in an effort to compromise the political process as and when needed.  Exposing this at this time is essential to bring to notice to the general public that such activities are being used.  These warnings come despite the fact that the compromised accounts already have 2-step verification and are forcibly asked to change their passwords repeatedly.

PTI is fully aware of these threats and continues to take necessary precautions, but its important to document this incident which only goes to re-enforce the suspicion where we previously thought it was being done to more sound facts that they are doing it as a matter of fact


Posted

in

, ,

by

Comments

2 responses to “PTI Mails possibly being monitored by the Government of Pakistan”

  1. zhohaq Avatar
    zhohaq

    Its absolutely necessary all officials use the 2 step verifications. Also route communication on services hosted outside Pakistan.(Gmail, Facebook)Enable SSH In Pakistan assume the fact that your landline and Internet may be compromised. If you come across absolutely critical data maintain the air gap (I.e access it on a machine not connected to the internet) If you want to be anonymous while leaking sensitive information use the TOR network. Use multiple sims and change often. Use sims not on your name and avoid sending sensitive information via Mobile services. For the most sensitive communication use an encrypted chat service like Cryptochat. https://crypto.cat/

  2. Dr Jawwad Khan Avatar
    Dr Jawwad Khan

    Dear Dr. Awab Alwi,                 Don't you think that things are getting exaggerated in PTI? I believe that this is the right time to take a break and call for general convention of PTI's members and workers and evaluate a long term strategy with the election within the party from top to bottom. Forget about this election. You can't get much from this election because things got messy. I also feel that attacking PML(N) at this very moment could do more harm than giving PTI a political advantage. Imran Khan should lower the intensity of criticism at political leaders. Also the time chosen for the rally is not good. It should have been done when Imran Khan raised the issue first time. Now it will be seen as a desperate attempt to get political advantage and sympathy of a common man.It is advisable to reshape the organization more socially active than politically active. Desperate time requires more time to think and discuss. Regards