Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Hafeez-ur-Rehman has categorically denied that any Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) were blocked and there are no plans to do so. While addressing the launch of the Annual Report of PTA for the year 2024, he further added that while the PTA owns the capability to block VPNs, the authority has never exercised this power and does not also intend to use it.
Regarding internet shutdowns owing to national security reasons, Chairman Hafeez-ur-Rehman said that PTA does not hold any response and added that would be better for such questions to be directed toward the policymakers.
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PTA Reported Over 1,000 Fake IDs and 37 Hacked Accounts to Meta in 2024
This year, PTA reported almost 1,100 fake IDs and over 37 hacked accounts to Meta. Most of these identified fake accounts impersonated government officials and politicians, while others impersonated citizens. Of these hacked accounts, 27 belong to Facebook, while the remaining are WhatsApp users. All these accounts are reported to Meta for restoration.
Security Threats
PTA also issued warnings of serious security vulnerabilities in Linux. Although the PTA does not have a well-documented history of hacking complaints, in general, users are known to report these incidents directly to social media platforms like Meta for more effective and settled issues.
As such, PTA identified the social engineering scams, data breaches, and use of unsecured public WiFi such things causative factors for these security issues. The other causative factors include malware, weak passwords, absence of two-factor authentication or lack of it, and usage of free VPNs.