-
Personal information of Pakistan’s entire population is reportedly available for purchase on the dark web.
-
A senate committee heard claims that individual records cost as little as Rs500, while complete national data is priced at Rs70-80 billion.
-
Lawmakers assert such massive theft is impossible without insider involvement from government institutions.
Over 240 million Pakistanis have had their private information stolen and sold on the dark web. A parliamentary committee meeting last week revealed shocking testimony about the exploitation and sale of personal data for profit.
The disclosure came during a series of hearings held by the Senate’s Committee on Government of Pakistan (Interior) Chaired by Senator Faisal Saleem. The scheduled agenda was to approve amendments to prevent electronic fraud (PEC). During the meeting, officials identified the country’s vulnerable data security as an immediate priority.
The breach underscores a pervasive global threat, where cyber attackers are increasingly targeting the core data systems of nations and their most revered institutions, challenging security paradigms everywhere.
Comprehensive Records Up for Sale
Senator Afnan Ullah Khan delivered shocking testimony about the scope of the breach. The stolen information remains complete and well-organized. It’s thorough, up-to-date, and disturbingly well-structured.
The data encompasses merged records from several state agencies—NADRA, financial institutions, and the Federal Board of Revenue.
The marketplace pricing reveals just how casually this sensitive information changes hands:
- Single citizen records: Rs500 per person
- Full national database covering all 240 million citizens: Rs70-80 billion
- Data so refined and current that government officials acknowledged their own systems might not have equally organized information
Khan expressed concern that any help from agency personnel must have been very recent, and no outsider could have gathered all the information found in the logs, as it had been methodically organized.
He also questioned the continued occurrence of security breaches and why the data of Pakistani citizens continues to be hijacked repeatedly.
The leaked data has opened up a world of horror for those involved in criminal activity. It will provide an opportunity for bad actors to create fake passports and forged IDs. During the meeting, officials cited an example where criminals stole a legal professional’s identity to obtain a fraudulent passport.
The criminal then used the fraudulent passport to fly to India in 2023. The victim explained how the ordeal compelled him to bring his parents to NADRA facilities simply to verify his Pakistani nationality.
Government Accountability Under Fire
The senator spoke directly and forcefully when addressing Immigration and Passports Director General Mustafa Jamal Qazi. He declared that data theft of this magnitude was completely unfeasible without help from insiders working within government institutions. Criminals could not extract information on 240 million individuals through external means alone.
When the committee chair asked about formal investigations, the director general confirmed that they had completed an inquiry and dismissed personnel as a result. However, this response failed to address persistent worries about continuing security weaknesses.
The Director General of Passports tried to shift some blame, proposing that citizens themselves played a role in data leaks by distributing passport and national ID information via WhatsApp. Senator Palwasha Khan questioned him about how criminals were extracting identity data directly from NADRA’s systems.
According to the Minister of State for “Interior Talal Chaudhry, the government was curating plans to form a unique cyber security body. He proposed that Senator Khan ought to get an official update from NADRA concerning the situation.
The Real Cost of Digital Vulnerability
For millions of Pakistanis, the harm may already be irreversible. When criminals can buy your complete digital identity—from citizenship documents to financial records—for just a few hundred rupees, the consequences go far beyond mere administrative failures.
This isn’t just about embarrassing the bureaucracy. It’s about protecting national security, safeguarding individual citizens, and maintaining the basic trust people must have that their government will secure their most private information. The dark web marketplace’s commodification of sensitive data is a global scourge, with targets ranging from the citizenry of entire nations to the internal systems of major international corporations. The dark web marketplace’s trade of Pakistani data as a commodity shows that trust has been severely broken.
