Pakistan PMO uses Gmail lol

[Markus]

Fake PM email creates flutter in Pakistan


Officials in the Pakistani Prime Minister's office went into a tizzy after unidentified persons attempted to circulate an email purportedly containing the premier's message for Defence Day, exposing the lack of cyber security in the office's media arm.

An email titled "Prime Minister's Message on Defence Day" was sent to scribes from the ID "pmmediaofficer@gmail.com", which is very similar to one of the IDs used by the premier's media arm for communications with journalists.

After learning of the development, the Prime Minister's Office issued a statement yesterday that asked journalists to ignore the email from the fake ID.

"It has come to our notice that a message of the Prime Minister on Defence Day has been circulated on a fake ID 'pmmediaofficer@gmail.com'. You are requested to ignore the message as it has not been issued by this office," the statement said.

The statement also listed three Gmail IDs that are used by the Prime Minister's Office for communications with the media.

Referring to the fake email, Prime Minister's Office spokesman Shafqat Jalil told the Dawn, "It contained no text, just the title 'Prime Minister's Message on Defence Day'."

Investigations revealed that the sender created a fake identity simply by adding the letter "r" to one of the email IDs used by the premier's office.

"We detected the fake email and immediately informed the media as per the standard operating procedure that Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has not issued any message relating to Defence Day," Jalil said.

Defence Day is observed on September 6.

The premier's office is not alone in using IDs from email providers like Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo.

Most Pakistani government departments use such email Ids instead of routing their communications through a secure system.

Cyber security experts have warned against the use of such IDs by government departments even in the past.

An unnamed official of the IT Ministry told the Dawn, "Why is the Prime Minister's office using email accounts on the private web Gmail? It amounts to a big information security breach as anyone can hack such email addresses of the Prime Minister. Such lapses can easily be averted by using Ids from the official email domain, gov.pk," the official said.

Any individual could create a fake identity in the same manner and cause embarrassment to the premier, he said.

"That possibility should worry the government, which should refer the matter to the FIA's cyber crime cell for investigation," said the official.

The official recalled that during the tenure of former President Pervez Musharraf, the Electronic Government Directorate of the IT Ministry used to host the email servers for the offices of the President and Prime Minister.

Fake PM email creates flutter in Pakistan - Indian Express

Is this true that Pakistan govt. uses Gmail and yahoo for email communication ???

 

[Spring Onion]

It was fake and the authorities wondered why the PMO office used private mail id after which it was reported

 

[Markus]

It was faked and the authorities wondered why the PMO office used private mail id after which it was reported

Yes, but your govt. uses gmail for communication ?

 

[airmarshal]

Even ISPR, the military communications wing uses that. Can you imagine how ignorant and computer illiterate our government is? They dont have any idea that government communication must be conveyed through secure servers using a specific domain.

 

[Markus]

Even ISPR, the military communications wing uses that. Can you imagine how ignorant and computer illiterate our government is? They dont have any idea that government communication must be conveyed through secure servers using a specific domain.

Do you think Pentagon can ask Google to give details of emails that Pakistan govt uses ?

I know Google has privacy policy but then its possible they might give in to US govt. pressure and give them the details.

 

[David James]

One should not jumps to critisise as its about Pak.

In India many officials also do the same.

Bureaucrats avoid the government system because it covers only 10 percent of federal employees, doesn’t include the latest security patches and can’t be accessed via India’s 840 million mobile-phone connections.

India Government Use of Free Webmail Criticized - Bloomberg

Communication network for government use soon


Government does not want any official communication on the Internet to travel outside the country

India's vulnerability to spying activities by unfriendly nations in the Internet era has forced the government to chalk out a Rs.450-crore plan to develop and deploy a pan-India secure network and network-based services such as email and Internet-telephony, thus providing a foolproof infrastructure for telecom and Internet communication exclusively for government use.

The government does not want any official communication on the Internet to travel outside the country and wants all such traffic to be routed through the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI), a government-supported not-for-profit organisation that facilitates exchange of domestic Internet traffic.

“Many email and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) users in India rely on services of foreign origin ... communication made through these services can be accessed by the government of other countries, where the servers for providing these services are hosted, by invoking the provisions of their laws,” says the latest report of the Department of Telecommunications, prepared by the working group on Telecom for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17).

Step taken to overcome ‘capacity constraint'

“A lot of intra-government communication is classified. The security of this communication has to be ensured by an alternative mechanism because neither is it advisable to wait for such a mandating and capacity building nor is it appropriate to rely on the level of security provided by such a scheme as communication would still remain in the open domain of Internet,” the report says.

Pointing to “capacity constraint” of the current Indian system that allows traffic to flow outside the country, the report says that an investment of Rs.450 crore is needed to “develop and deploy a pan-India secure network and network-based services such as email, VoIP mobile communication through a survivable and available network architecture for secured communication for government use.”

Wireless communication

While Rs.300 crore would be spent on establishing a fixed and wireless communication system for high security of classified government communication, Rs.100 crore would be for operational expenditure for the next five years and Rs.50 crore for research and development.

Interestingly, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) already has an internal system of communication that acts like a private Internet system, connecting various centres working on crucial defence projects, thus securing it from any kind of hacking or interception.

Located in Delhi, the Defence Scientific Information & Documentation Centre (DESIDOC)'s main function is collection, processing and dissemination of relevant technical information for DRDO scientists.

It also provides secure e-mail and Internet connectivity to DRDO labs through the networks of ERNET (of Dept. of Electronics) and NICNET (of the Planning Commission).

The Hindu : News / National : Communication network for government use soon

 

[Markus]

One should not jumps to critisise as its about Pak.

In India many officials also do the same.

lol Indian govt. is equally dumb.

 

[David James]

lol Indian govt. is equally dumb.

Its not about the whole govt. just some officials and the reason are all there in above post.

Otherwise Govt. of India have its own email system every govt. department and MPs get it free of cost.

 

[Hyperion]

WTF, is it true?

Even I am so paranoid that I host my own servers in a private datacenter (with cameras recording live feed of the physical boxes) Not to forget about encryption and certificates and then VPN in-between offices. Even that's not enough.....

 

[Markus]

Its not about the whole govt. just some officials and the reason are all there in above post.

Otherwise Govt. of India have its own email system every govt. department and MPs get it free of cost.

But its ridiculous to use external servers for official govt. communication.

 

[SQ8]

Yes, but your govt. uses gmail for communication ?

Gmail, Hotmail..

Private sector companies have better data security than our government organizations.
Perhaps the only one following security protocols is the Strategic force...but that is beyond paranoia.

 

[forcetrip]

Do you think Pentagon can ask Google to give details of emails that Pakistan govt uses ?

I know Google has privacy policy but then its possible they might give in to US govt. pressure and give them the details.

You think these idiots are caught scratching there heads for no reason? To be honest no system can actually protect data espionage from the States. But gmail is just too much .. Thats something probably the indians could buy off google. I guess the real communications were transferred into stoneage paper, ink and fire methods. Slow and steady wins the race. Only if you are a turtle fighting a Hare.

 

[Markus]

Gmail, Hotmail..

Private sector companies have better data security than our government organizations.
Perhaps the only one following security protocols is the Strategic force...but that is beyond paranoia.

I understand that.

But is it normal to use external servers for official govt. communication ?

I just found out above that even GoI was using external servers, now thats ridiculous?

You think these idiots are caught scratching there heads for no reason? To be honest no system can actually protect data espionage from the States. But gmail is just too much .. Thats something probably the indians could buy off google. I guess the real communications were transferred into stoneage paper, ink and fire methods. Slow and steady wins the race. Only if you are a turtle fighting a Hare.

Completely agree on the bold part above, but using gmail is like inviting the Americans to have a direct view on your internal govt. communication.

 

[Jango]

WTF, the government and Army top hierarchy communicate using Gmail and hotmail???

 

[Markus]

WTF, the government and Army top hierarchy communicate using Gmail and hotmail???

The article says Pakistan govt. pmo and other departments, dont know about the military.