Cybersnoops at work

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

* Agencies’ experts monitoring Internet traffic to unearth ‘suspicious’ text
* Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace also being monitored
* Agencies compiling ‘2010 tendency’ list in attempt to understand public
reation to various issues
* Cyber Crime deputy director says dept working on ‘research work interceptions’ that deal with cyber threats
* FIA Lahore director says NR3C offices working in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi 24/7 to intercept e-communication by anti-state elements

By Muhammad Aayan

LAHORE: Newly-created email accounts, web blogs and even domestic chat rooms are being “strictly monitored” by security agencies as potential communication channels for terrorists. Email scanning, especially for ‘ghost accounts’ – ones that are rarely used – and newly-made addresses, is
now underway, sources told Daily Times on Wednesday.

Owing to the worsening law and order situation in the country, law enforcement agencies have initiated an aggressive domestic web monitoring campaign to check whether terrorists are using the Internet to communicate with each other.

Suspicious: According to sources, cyber experts – working in collaboration with law enforcement agencies –unearthed some ‘suspicious’ web messages that have instigated the increase in monitoring.

Although not all of the millions of emails sent and received everyday can be checked, but authorities are nonetheless working towards making cyber monitoring a permanent feature of their operations, sources said.

The said the cyber divisions of at least three security agencies have received instructions to monitor all forms of ‘text’ that could lead them to a terrorist source. These departments had been monitoring Pakistan’s Internet traffic and now they have further intensified their web watch by gathering useful information not only about domestic residents, but also about overseas Pakistanis.

Social networks’ scrutiny: Sources said social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and web blogs are also being monitored for security reasons.

Inclination: Besides scanning emails, a list known as ‘2010 tendency’ is also being maintained by the cyber wings of the security agencies, sources said. ‘2010 tendency’ refers to the inclination of the public towards different ‘issues’, including terrorism and politics. They said the ‘2010 tendency’ would be used to collectively observe the inclination of the literate class who have access to the Internet.

“Satellite phones and telecommunication interception is already operational in every country and the Internet cannot be ignored either now because it is accessible to almost everyone”, said a senior law enforcement official requesting anonymity. He said terrorists and spies are too smart to use coded emails these days because professional decipherers can decode them within minutes.

“Its reverse psychology these days. The terror suspects are likely to use email accounts created under a female name, as that would be the least probable to draw the attention of law enforcement agencies. Terrorists can simply write emails with the general rule being that the first three words and the last two words of an email make up the actual message. The rest of the text in the email is just a diverter, he said.

Cyber threats: Cyber Crime Deputy Director Sajid Ikram said the department was working on ‘research work interceptions’ that deals with the complaints of cyber threats. He said that the IP (Internet Protocol) sources information and other details are verified if there is a complaint against an email account holder. Ikram said his department did not have ‘enough manpower’ and equipment to search through millions of emails floated daily on the web.

Functioning: Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Lahore Director Azam Joya told Daily Times that the National Response Centre 3 (NR3C) is functioning in Islamabad and is monitoring the Internet to deal with suspected terrorist communication. He said the three offices of NR3C in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad are working round the clock to intercept any form of e-communication by anti-state elements.

Joya said web monitoring is ‘essential’ these days and the security agencies are ‘fully active’ in this regard. To a question about hiring ‘hackers’ to help the authorities prevent cyber terrorism, he said the computer expertise of hackers could not be ignored but they could not be trusted at the same.

“The hackers are cyber criminals and giving them access to sensitive government information can be risky. However, the authorities are planning to hire computer professionals with exceptional expertise that will be very useful in web monitoring,” he added.