The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has purchased software to upgrade its databases to prevent hacker attacks.
Sources told ProPakistani that the tax department had purchased various software worth Rs. 300 million to upgrade its database.
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet had approved funds worth Rs. 3.8 billion for the purchase of software or hardware for the up-gradation of the system.
However, the tax department used open tendering to secure software such as Oracle ACS services for the implementation of database security, VMware virtualization, backup, and recovery, secure E-mail, a web gateway, WAF, ADC, security incident, event management system, and the establishment of a security operation center, perimeter firewall, and Microsoft Windows server.
Sources said that international companies participated in the open tendering process, and the department saved more than Rs. 2 billion in this process.
After the cyber-attack on the FBR on 14 August 2021, the Cabinet allowed the FBR to purchase software or hardware while bypassing the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules on account of the situation.
The FBR constituted an 11-member committee under the supervision of the incumbent Director-General of Benami for the finalization of the tendering process in the last week of January 2022.
Sources said that the tax department has also decided to replace the computer systems in all the field formations as they were last installed in 2010.
The World Bank, under the Pakistan Raises Revenue, has also agreed to allocate funds to Pakistan for the up-gradation of FBR’s IT system.
