Hacker’s motive behind audio leaks appears to be financial gain: Pakistani hacker

A year ago, when the ban on bringing smart devices was mentioned in high-level domestic meetings, it seemed to be an extreme step, but today this problem is common because recent audio leaks have raised important questions related to the country’s cyber security.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, government ministers and even former prime minister Imran Khan have been leaked in connection with the audio leaks that started last week.

On August 20, an alleged hacker, who created an account called ‘IndieShell’, a hacker, posted a post about the presence of audios in his possession. The alleged hacker had named his post as Pakistani PM Office Data Leaked i.e. ‘Leaked Data of The Office of the Prime Minister of Pakistan’.

Its minimum bid was 180 bitcoins, which amounts to millions of rupees in Pakistani currency.

Independent Urdu spoke to renowned Pakistani ethical hacker Rafi Baloch on the issue of these leaked audios, who said, “It seems that the hacker has done these audio leaks for economic gain or money. ‘

Rafi Baloch has been ranked among the top five hackers in the world by the US cyber security journal Checkmarks and he is currently a senior consultant in the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.

“IndiShell is a well-known Indian hacking group whose job has been to ‘deface’ websites for over a decade.

Rafi: “Since this account is new from which the data of the Prime Minister’s House was posted, it is necessary to investigate whether it is the same group or someone wants to use their name to either take financial benefits or defame the institutions and personalities of Pakistan.” ‘

In his view, this can only be conclusively determined by investigation. “It is worth noting that if these hackers were contacted at the government level, how seriously they showed in the conversation. If they don’t show much seriousness, it appears to be a national issue of notoriety. ‘

“There is no proper cyber security agency in Pakistan that clearly looks into the issue, nor has the government’s commitment to our national-level cyber security policy been fulfilled,” Rafi said. In the rest of the world, it is the job of the cyber security agency rather than the intelligence agencies to secure conversations in high-level meetings and meetings. ‘

“It is important to see who attended these meetings. All the audio leaks that have taken place so far or whatever will happen, there was always one person in it or which room was used most, if Shahbaz Sharif was present in every such meeting, then it is possible that his phone was hacked. ‘

He also raised the point that since the audio of a former Prime Minister has also been leaked, it seems that the bugging has been done by the Prime Minister’s House and not of a specific device.

The tweets of Rafi Baloch, who discovered flaws in Google and Android’s systems at the age of 28, are currently a topic of discussion on social media. In this conflicting environment, when most people are trying to understand these sensitive cyber security issues, a letter written by Rafi Baloch to the Imran Khan government is again circulating on social media.In this regard, he said that a year ago, he had given a clear position that smartphone devices and tablets should not be admitted to such meetings. He also cited the example of Russia in his letter, which mentioned electronic typewriters and recording of meetings on paper because it left a forensic trail that makes the device easier to diagnose.

Rafi Baloch said: “The phones of those who were part of these meetings at that time, internet routers, firewalls, etc. of these meetings should all be confiscated and forensic so that the investigation can help in where the cyber security problem arose.”

“When people ask me about audio leaks whether these were bugging devices, I say that every smartphone can act as a bugging device on its own. ‘

He added that the Prime Minister’s House has a rule that ‘debugging’ is a routine process. In this regard, it should now be seen whether all these precautions were used during this time or not.

He thinks the best solution is still not to take devices to such meetings to make matters at the national level safer.

During Imran Khan’s tenure, the number of cabinet members was barely more than 50, but in the current government, it has exceeded 70, in such a situation, it is difficult to estimate whether every person who keeps a phone with him is safe from illegally sharing these issues after attending such sensitive meetings and conversations.