ISLAMABAD The Senate Standing Committee during a meeting on Thursdayexpressed concerns regarding the data access to data being given to a USfirm Sandvine, who has ties with global cyber surveillance.
The committee members inquired if the arrangement signed with the US firm,who is allegedly linked with Israel intelligence agencieslink,would have access to all sensitive digital information, including WhatsApp.
A parliamentary body had been inquiring on this matter after the issue wasreferred to the committee by Senator Mushtaq Ahmed in the previous Senatesession, related to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority(PTA) signing anagreementlinkwiththe US-based firm Sandvine Corporation, to monitor and curb grey trafficon the internet.
Mushtaq Ahmed raised this question that PTA has signed an agreement formonitoring grey traffic with a firm who has ties with the Israeliintelligence.
Senator Ahmed also informed the committee that Sandvine was involved ingathering intelligence for the US government in Turkey and also spied onTurkish nationals living in the US.
Senator Robina Khalid from Pakistan Peoples Party said that the newmonitoring system would jeopardize digital security in Pakistan. Sheadded, *“Backgroundchecks of Sandvine Corporation will reveal that it has a sister companyNSO, known for global cyber surveillance”.*
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Chairman committee Senator Talha Mahmood shared a news report published bythe *BBC *saying that Sandvine has a sister company called NSO, which is acyber-technology company and had stolen data of 1.5 billion users in lastweek. The report also revealed, *“The surveillance software involved wasdeveloped by Israeli firm NSO Group. Hackers were able to remotely installsurveillance software on phones and other devices through WhatsApp”.*
In response to these questions, the PTA chairmanlinkretiredMaj Gen Amir Azeem Bajwa said that his office had not signed any agreementwhich is in violation of PPRA rules.
He clarified that both mobile and Long Distance and International (LDI)operators were bound to establish a monitoring system to inspect greytraffic. He added that the PTA had asked cellular operators to form anassociation to fund the system to monitor grey traffic as well as foulcontent online.
