The Internet Voting Task Force (IVTF) on Overseas Pakistanis’ Voting Rights has said that internet voting was likely to be attacked by foreign governments and intelligence agencies. In a report, the IVTF said the applications such as internet banking and e-commerce were typically targeted by insiders, hackers or in organised gangs, whereas an internet voting system used in binding political election results was far more likely to be attacked by foreign governments and intelligence agencies. It stated that foreign government agencies posed an entirely different class of threat as compared to standard hackers adding these organizations typically had unsurpassed resources and capabilities at their disposal. “We have the example of Skynet, a US NSA operation, specifically deployed in Pakistan.
The NSA had actively hacked into Pakistan’s communication infrastructure and was surreptitiously engaged in bulk collection of phone metadata of 55 million mobile phone users. This information was then used to identify potential terrorists who could later be targeted via drone strike. This infiltration was undetected for several years and only revealed as part of the Snowden leaks,” it added.
The Supreme Court has been hearing the identical petitions including the one filed by Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan seeking issuance of directions for granting voting rights to overseas Pakistanis.
On April 12, the top court had convened a session pertaining to voting rights to overseas Pakistanis. The session was presided over by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, and included members of various political parties, IT experts from Pakistani universities, concerned citizens, and members of the media.
Full Article: Foreign spy agencies may disrupt internet voting: IVTF.
