High-speed Internet forces cyber wings to upgrade

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

* Most Internet users accessing more than one website at a time

* Faulty, old equipment needs replacement

By Muhammad Aayan

LAHORE: The cyber wings of four law enforcement agencies have been updated to cope with faster Internet speeds, courtesy of the newly-launched Internet services in the country, sources told Daily Times on Tuesday. Computer experts working for government agencies have informed their bosses that Pakistan is becoming more connected to the Internet and that they would soon have to change their methods of tracking Internet traffic, for which they would need to buy additional equipment.

These wings have been upgraded with new ‘Surf Track’ equipment that is capable of following multiple traces of IP addresses in a single second. Sources said they had felt the need to upgrade these wings since the average Internet user in the country was using high-speed Internet and wireless devices. This had forced workers in these departments to use various methods to trace the suspicious exchange of data streaming to and from computers in Pakistan.

More: The sources said that the cyber departments, usually termed the ‘Fragile Wings’, had been swiftly updated, as their monitoring report had revealed that an average Internet user was going through five different pages simultaneously. Almost 60 percent of Internet users have shifted to new connections that provide them with sufficient speed to browse and extract different forms of data in a short period of time. The monitoring division of these security agencies had therefore sent a request to their superiors demanding the latest equipment, which was now functional.

With this new equipment, these cyber wings will be able to efficiently monitor and maintain a history of data transfers in their mainframe computers.

“Internet traffic has increased over the years and with the launch of new, faster web services, cyber departments have been provided with new equipment that will not only enable them to trace user IP addresses, but also store data in a sequenced form about the usage of different web pages on computers nationwide,” an official of the National Security Agency told Daily Times. He said that in particular, users in the main cities, including Lahore, Islamabad, Karachi, Faisalabad, Multan, Quetta and Peshawar, were shifting to newly launched Internet connections that had raised the bar for computer experts, making them feel the need for new equipment.

Faulty: The sources further said that security agencies had come across data transfers to a home computer being detected as ‘corporate’ data. The confusion in tracing the source also provoked authorities to immediately upgrade their systems. The ‘Fragile Wings’ of these security agencies are responsible for monitoring the web for dangerous activity.