ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) – Pakistani intelligence sought to tap worldwide internet traffic via underwater cables that would have given the country a digital espionage capacity to rival the US, according to a report by Privacy International.
The report says the country’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency hired intermediary companies to acquire spying toolkits from western and Chinese firms for domestic surveillance, reported The Guardian.
It also claims the ISI sought access to tap data from three of the four “landing sites” that pass through Karachi, effectively giving it access to internet traffic worldwide.
“These cables are going to route data through various countries and regions,” an official of the Privacy International said.
“Some will go from Europe to Africa and all the way to south-east Asia. From my reading that’s an explicit attempt to look at what’s going on.”
Traffic from North America and regional rival India would also be routed via the cables, he said.
ISPR was not able to comment on the issue at the present time.
