A spokesperson for Pakistan’s National Cyber Emergency Response Team (NCERT) confirmed on Tuesday that no violations of any government or private organization had been reported following a significant global data exposure event affecting 184 million Internet users.
NCERT issued advice on a massive data violation involving a non -encrypted, publicly available file containing over 184 million unique account information, according to Arabic news.
The exposed data includes usernames, passwords, e -mail addresses and affiliated URLs for services such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat along with various government portals, banking institutions and health platforms around the world.
“From now on, we have not received any reports of data violations from any government or private organization in Pakistan,” said Syed Imran Haider, NCERT spokesman.
He added that the team remained “vigilant, in contact with all relevant departments and worked around the clock” to monitor the situation. “We are actively engaged in global certificates and international cybersecurity platforms,” he noted.
The leaked database is assumed to be assembled using infoTeals malware, a malicious software designed to extract sensitive data from compromised systems. The data was left unprotected, stored in ordinary text without encryption or password protection.
In response, NCERT has advised all users to change their passwords, especially those that have been reused across multiple services, and to enable multifactor approval on sensitive accounts.
“Users should also consider using unique, complex passwords for each online service and avoid storing passwords in unprotected files,” Haider added.
CyberSecurity experts have warned that Pakistani users are at risk of identity theft, hijacking of accounting and financial loss due to the exposure of sensitive login credentials.
Dr. Shahid Sultan, a cybersecurity expert, said banking and financial accounts could be particularly vulnerable to unauthorized transactions.
“Users and organizations are encouraged to remain vigilant, monitor login activities for irregularities and act on the precautionary measures recommended by NCERT,” Dr. Sultan.
