Alert issued regarding cyber-attack in Pakistan

Against cyber-attack The National Cyber Emergency Response Team (CERT) has issued a critical advisory, titled “Mitigating SQL Injection Threats.” 

This advisory was issued because of the current cybersecurity occurrence in Pakistan, that has affected several organizations across the country. The organizations include educational institutions, universities, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), e-commerce platforms, healthcare facilities, government websites, and private coaching centers.

The advisory emphasizes that hackers may attempt to breach databases to steal sensitive information, posing a significant threat to the integrity and privacy of organizational data.

The National CERT identified this threat as a SQL injection attack, a type of attack which hackers use to take advantage of weaknesses in a database to gain unauthorized access. The advisory highlights that to steal sensitive information and manipulate data, the hackers may attempt to breach database, presenting a serious risk to the confidentiality and integrity of organizational data.

These vulnerabilities need to be addressed by putting robust security measures in place urgently. SQL injection attacks are particularly dangerous because they are hard to detect by the organizations because of their sly nature.

It is strongly recommended by the advisory that all institutions and organizations act swiftly to address this growing threat. It especially advises the mobilization of information security officers to conduct the defensive efforts within their respective organizations against cyber-attack.

The advisory stated “This is a serious threat that could compromise the security of sensitive information across various sectors,” adding that the integrity and privacy of corporate data are seriously threatened by these attacks.

It is recommended that organizations exercise caution and keep a close eye on their systems for any unusual activity.

NCERT also advises to embrace Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) frameworks, which sanitize inputs and generate secure queries automatically. NCERT recommends teaching development teams about safe coding procedures and the dangers posed by these flaws.