"Almost all" banks in Pakistan hacked

The data of almost all the banks operating in Pakistan has been hacked in a recent massive cybersecurity breach, Federal Investigation Agency report. 

FIA have disclosed the attack after ten banks have suspended all their international transactions from their cards, Geo News reported. 

"According to a recent report we have received, data from almost all Pakistani banks has been reportedly hacked," FIA Cybercrimes Director retired Capt Mohammad Shoaib told Geo News. 

 Shoaib revealed that FIA has written to all banks, and called out a meeting with the heads and security management team of all the banks that were affected by the security breach. 

"Banks are the custodians of the money people have stored in them," Shoaib said. 

A digital security website krebsonsecurity.com has said that the data of over 8,000 customers of about ten Pakistani banks were being sold in a dark market. 

However, Pakistan Banks’ Association (PBA) has dismissed the reports of data hacking of ten Pakistani banks data.  The PBA spokesman said that the IT security of one bank was compromised, and other than that no breach has been reported

“It is important to understand the difference between fraudulent transactions and hacking attempt. Fraudulent transactions can be successful without hacking the bank,” the spokesperson said.

“When a cheque book or a leaf of a cheque book is lost, it can be used by fraudsters to steal money. Likewise, if a credit or debit card is lost or stolen, it can also be used in fraudulent transactions,” he added.