Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi informed the Senate on Tuesday that about 1,500 WhatsApp accounts have been hacked across the country since July 1, adding that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had recovered some of the accounts while work to recover others was underway.
Even though the Meta-owned application is end-to-end encrypted, which adds an extra layer of security to communication, hackers could still target devices through unsecured connections and access private conversations.
In details provided to the Senate today, the security czar said the “FIA’s Cybercrime Wing (CCW) had received 1,426 complaints related to hacked accounts since July 1,” adding that the figure did not include users who had not yet reported their compromised accounts.
He said 549 hacked accounts were successfully restored from the registered complaints, while the CCW was currently processing a further 877 complaints, with 20 cases escalated to formal inquiries.
Naqvi said 40 complaints remained unanswered and 817 were still in the verification stage.
Last year, ex-chief justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar claimed that a complaint was filed with the CCW for recovery of his “hacked” WhatsApp account.
Sources in the FIA had said that the agency would follow the standard operating procedure on the complaint of NIsar’s son.
The sources had said that the agency received enormous complaints through its online portal and other forums, but it lacked the required staff to process all those complaints. Moreover, they had said that the FIA was not equipped with modern gadgets required to counter cybercrimes.
