The Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications was informed on Monday that there are only 15 investigators in the cyber crime wing of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to deal with 28,000 cases.
The parliamentary panel met with Rubina Khalid in the chair where it was revealed that FIA’s cyber crime cell comprises of 114 officials, whereas, only 15 cyber investigators are presented in the agency.
Committee chairperson said that 28,000 inquiries were currently pending in the crime cell and questioned why there were only 15 officials to deal with such a huge task.
She said, “The progress [of the cell] on cases pertains to the Dark Web is unsatisfactory.” The senator said that the standing committee had already forwarded its recommendations regarding the cyber crime cell.
The chairperson directed Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to present a report on the implementation of the committee’s recommendations in the next session.
On April 11, a major hacking scandal, which is said to be one of the biggest in Pakistan’s history, unearthed the stolen data of various female students of Punjab University (PU). This data was being sold on the ‘Dark Web’.
The latest revelations raised eyebrows as public asked for measures to curb such criminal activities on the world wide web. The FIA cyber crimes’ circle had also initiated a thorough investigation into the matter.
Rehman Malik said that with such a small team of investigators, even location tracking isn’t possible. He asked why new hardware worth Rs 500 million was not being procured. According to him, even 25 percent of the installed hardware at gateways is not operational.
