Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has told the Senate that since July 1, around 1500 WhatsApp accounts have been hacked in the country.
Mohsin Naqvi revealed in the Senate meeting that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has recovered some accounts while work is on to activate other accounts.
In details provided to the Senate, the Home Minister said that the Cyber ​​Crime Wing (CCW) of the FIA ​​has received 1,426 complaints related to hacked accounts since July 1.
According to Mohsin Naqvi, these figures do not include users who have not yet filed complaints about their hacked accounts.
How many hacked WhatsApp accounts were recovered?
He said that 549 hacked accounts have been recovered from the complaints lodged while the cyber crime wing is working on another 877 complaints out of which 20 cases have been referred for formal enquiry.
Mohsin Naqvi said that 40 complaints have not been resolved while 817 are still in the verification stage.
Last year, former Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar claimed that his WhatsApp was hacked in a complaint to the Cyber ​​Crime Wing.
Sources in the FIA ​​said that they have received numerous complaints on the online portal and other forums, but they lack the required staff to implement these complaints.
He further said that FIA does not have modern tools to counter cybercrime.
It may be noted that government officials were also warned against responding to WhatsApp messages after security agencies identified malware to gain access to sensitive government documents.
Some hackers had tried to gain access to the mobile phones of senior bureaucrats by pretending to be government officials.
A senior official with knowledge of the hacking has told Dawn that some joint secretaries and additional secretaries of various ministries received messages from hackers impersonating their chiefs and other top officials in various departments.
