The Capital Development Authority’s (CDA) property and water billing system has reportedly been hacked, with attackers demanding ransom in bitcoins and threatening to upload the data to the dark web, according to a report by Dawn News.
The cyberattack has disrupted CDA’s online billing services for the past three days, affecting property, conservancy and water charge payments. A CDA revenue directorate official told Dawn that the incident occurred during June, a month when a large number of residents typically clear their property taxes and other dues before the close of the financial year.
The official said the revenue directorate, the National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC), and the CDA’s Information Technology Department were working to restore the system and recover the affected data. The disruption also affected citizens attempting to pay their dues online. While the CDA website remained accessible, the online bill payment section was unavailable.
Meanwhile, a CDA official claimed that neither the authority nor its vendor had maintained backup data for the past six months. However, CDA spokesperson Shahid Kiani rejected the claim. Kiani confirmed that the authority’s billing system had come under a cyberattack but said all backup data remained secure.
“CDA is currently recovering all billing-related data from its secure backup servers to ensure nothing is lost. Technical teams are working, and the online system will be made functional again very soon,” he said. He also assured citizens that all payments made through the 1-Link system and other authorized online banking channels remain safe and unaffected.
Via: Dawn News
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