The Islamabad Safe City Authority’s online system was shut down following a hacking attempt, Dawn News reported. The breach occurred a few days ago, compromising key servers and shutting down several important functions.
According to the details, the hacker or hackers accessed the main server on Thursday. The attack targeted servers that store criminal records and manage the Complaint Management System, Criminal Management Record System, and Human Resources Management System, among others. To prevent further damage, these systems were immediately shut down.
The system’s firewall did issue an alert during the breach, but there was no backup server to maintain operations. Therefore, the IT department of the authority disabled all logins to the affected software and applications, which are essential for police operations.
An officer emphasized that this was not a typical hacking incident where login credentials were stolen. Instead, the simple and common IDs and passwords used by officials made the system vulnerable. Additionally, many software applications were outdated, with licenses that have been expired for years.
The affected systems included mobile application records, smart police vehicle data, police station records, video analytics, Islamabad Traffic Police data, e-challan records, operations division data, and information on criminals. The servers of the police facilitation center F-6 were also linked to these compromised systems.
While the Safe City cameras management system has its own independent and offline lines, making it very secure, the use of easily guessable IDs and passwords by officials still poses a significant risk.
Police spokesman Taqi Jawad confirmed the cyberattack. He mentioned that the firewall’s alert prompted the immediate closure of all server logins as a precautionary measure. “All logins have been closed for the last two days to change them, including those of police stations and senior police officers,” Jawad stated.
