NADRA REPORT

NADRA report is focused on highlighting, exposing and unearthing the internals of how NADRA operates in Pakistan.

[nadrareport-blog]

PECA: Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act

Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) was approved by National Assembly's Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication and enacted in April, 2016. (View all National Assembly Standing Committees)

People of Pakistan (Urdu: پاکستان) have yet to be informed and educated about the significant legal implications that PECA 2016 law can have on their cyber (Internet) rights and responsibilities.

 “it is crucially significant that the data-handling and investigative capacities of FIA’s National Response Centre for Cyber Crimes, are rapidly evaluated and optimised. This will ensure that PECA is enforced keeping in view the local dynamics where the government has still not rolled out enough campaigns for the purpose of educating the cyberspace occupiers in the country about the legal implications of this law on their cyber rights and responsibilities.

A glaring void currently exists between the extensive criminalisation of the Internet landscape that PECA’s enactment has mobilised into law and the public’s nascent information and comprehension of the intricacies of its legalities.

Equally concerning is that PECA’s language contains considerable opportunity for the subjectivity of the investigating regulator to claim a determinant jurisdiction.”

Chairperson Captain (R) Safdar of National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication. Captain Safdar’s phone number is 042-7860222 and his mobile number is 0302-8558777.

Mr. Ashiq Nawaz is the Secretary of the Committee of Information Technology and Telecommunication’s Section Officer.  Mr. Ashiq Nawaz can be contacted at 051-9103204, 9022832. He can be reached via email at  [email protected]

[nadrareport-blog]

NADRA’s official logo. Source: NADRA.gov.pk

[nadrareport-blog]

Poorly Planned 13 Billion Rupee CCTV Project For Intensive Surveillance in Pakistan

In Pakistan, the space for an autonomous Privacy Commission gains prominence to respond to the critical need for the examination of an exceptionally large surveillance data.

This need grows further in the scenario where the government is investing heavily in mass-scale digital surveillance of its citizens and visitors through projects like the Punjab Safe Cities Project (PSCP).

The PSCP will reportedly have more than 8,000 cameras installed across its premises, and is now being extended to include Rawalpindi, Multan, Gujranwala, and Faisalabad.

Similarly, the Islamabad Safe City Project (ISCP) gives LEAs sweeping intrusive powers through 24 hours of intensively-networked, real-time virtual monitoring with around 1,800 high definition Huawei CCTV cameras worth over Rs13 billlion installed in the capital city and connected to Nadra’s centralised biometric repository.

As shared by ISCP project director Dr Tahir Akram with Dawn, the project’s command centre will be able to “monitor every car coming out of any residential sector in Islamabad”.

Not even a penny’s worth of benefit will come from this Rs 13,000,000,000 expenditure because a pivotal component that’s not cost prohibitive and easily available has been left out. This is what happens when advice and consulting from subject matter experts isn’t sourced before the implementation.

[nadrareport-blog]

Accidental data leakage, forgery with identification documents leading to identification theft and duplication, and inaccuracies in the handling of even legitimate documents, are insecurities of scale and have incredible damaging externalities. Risks associated with these externalities become more profound in the intricate dynamics — including a refugee management crisis, an overwhelming population, and a climate of intense censorship — of countries like Pakistan. These challenges are exacerbated when infrastructure and staff competencies in the use of biometric technology are not adequate and thorough

http://www.dawn.com/news/1290534

[nadrareport-blog]

On the other end, insufficient legal safeguards to curb abuse of surveillance knowledge by law-enforcement agencies (LEAs) raises red flags. These concerns are not unfounded considering the exceedingly vigilant security regime under which rights defenders, citizen activists, and journalists operate in Pakistan’s data territory. Given the size of biometrically-contained human records in the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) repository and the extent to which data-sharing occurs across, between, and beyond government agencies and LEAs, the scale of this vulnerability is likely to be huge.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1290534

[nadrareport-blog]

He said that the world has confidence in Nadra and it has earned more than Rs 260 million from different contracts with foreign countries for providing services. These earnings would further increase as more contracts with foreign countries are in the pipeline, he said. Nadra earned Rs 234.84 million from Nigeria, Kenya, Sudan and Bangladesh for services rendered during the last five years and Rs 19.53 million was received from foreign missions of Saudi Arabia in Pakistan for verification services during the last five years, he said. He said that the amount was utilised to meet expenses of Nadra.

http://www.pakistanpressfoundation.org/2010/06/nadra-develops-secure-citizen-database/

[nadrareport-blog]

Pakistan's experience with identity management dates back to 1973, when the eastern part of the country had just seceded and questions were being raised over who was a Pakistani and who was not. So a registration act was introduced in the parliament to create an authority that would register Pakistani citizens and issue them with a photo ID. In 2001, this authority was merged with a national database organisation to create Nadra, with the task of computerising all citizen data. In 2007, Nadra introduced what is known as the multi-biometric system, consisting of finger identification and facial identification data that was to be included in the citizen's computer profile. "By now, Nadra has issued 91 million computer generated cards, which is 96% of the entire adult population," says Nadra deputy chairman Tariq Malik. "This is one of the world's largest national databases." "During the last 40 years, we have graduated from identity management to database management, and we have now entered an era in which we can make intelligent use of this database to make our economic and political processes transparent and also to roll out services to the citizens," he says.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-18101385

[nadrareport-blog]

"This will disenfranchise the 'powers' that used fake votes and ghost polling stations to engineer elections throughout Pakistan's chequered electoral history," Mr Malik says.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-18101385

[nadrareport-blog]

According to BBC, A recent study conducted by Nadra for the revenue department identified more than 700,000 well-off people who were not paying taxes.

[nadrareport-blog]

NADRA + TERADATA: Tracing Link Between US BASED NRC/TERADATA and PAKISTAN’s NADRA

Wikileaks report related to how NADRA is connected with Teradata.

Raw metadata of the report:

VZCZCXRO6531 RR RUEHBI RUEHLH RUEHPW DE RUEHIL #4302 2771120 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 041120Z OCT 07 FM AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2276 INFO RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 1910 RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 2235 RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 1442 RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI 7570 RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE 3611 RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR 2108 RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 3717 RUEHDO/AMEMBASSY DOHA 1450

The report is dated 041120Z OCT 07

AMEMBASSY stands for American Embassy.

Raw headers of the report follow:

UNCLAS ISLAMABAD 004302 SIPDIS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED SIPDIS E.O.  12958:  N/A TAGS:  EFIN, ECON, PREL, EINV, EIND, EINT, PK SUBJECT: TERADATA: 

AMERICAN COMPANY WITH PAKISTANI TIES GOES PUBLIC

The Wikileak report’s contains the SIPDIS header.

WHAT IS SIPDIS?

SIP in SIPDIS stands for “the Secret Internet Protocol” and DIS stands for “Distribution.”

The network that routes SIP traffic is called SIPRNet (The Secret Internet Protocol Router Network).

WHAT IS SIPRNET?

SIPRNet is "a system of interconnected computer networks used by the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of State to transmit classified information (up to and including information classified SECRET) by packet switching over the 'completely secure' environment". (Department of Defense)

In other words, SIPRNet is the classified version of the Internet.

According to instructions by DoD (Department of Defense), “inspection of files” on the SIPRNET” are to be “ensured”:

DIRECTOR, DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY.  The Director, Defense Information Systems Agency, under the authority, direction, and control of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration/DoD Chief Information Officer, shall ensure DoD Component compliance with this Instruction during inspections of files on the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNET).

The PUBLIC portion of the report starts with:

PUBLIC 1. (SBU) A/DCM and Economic Officers watched (via satellite feed) American company NCR spin off its new subsidiary Teradata into a stand-alone company by ringing the New York Stock Exchange opening bell on October 1.  The new Managing Director of Teradata, Khuram Rahat (also the former Managing Director of NCR Pakistan) then unveiled the company's new logo.  Rahat stated that Teradata will focus on its customers and on establishing Teradata as a leader in technology consulting.

NCR

Khuram Rahat

Khuram Rahat on LinkedIn

Teradata on Twitter

Teradata on LinkedIn

WHAT IS SBU?

SBU is an abbreviation for Strategic Business Unit.

The remaining report follows:

2. (SBU)  Also attending the ceremony was Norwegian-owned TeleNor Pakistan Limited CEO Tore Johnsen.  Telenor is one of the most successful cellular telecom firms in Pakistan. NADRA's (National Database Registration Authority) Chairman Brig.General (rtd) Saleen Moeen also attended. Teradata began development of NADRA's state-of-the-art biometric identity card.  Included among Teradata's clients in Pakistan are four of the seven top telecommunication companies and a large number of banks and financial institutions. 

Telenor Pakistan Limited CEO Tore Johnsen attended the ceremony

Teradata was assigned the task of development of NADRA’s “state-of-the-art biometric identity card“ a version of which is now called CNIC in Pakistan.

3.  (SBU) Pakistan is core of Teradata's Global Consulting Center (GCC) operations for its worldwide operations.  The GCC is a call center and offers software development/IT solutions.  Teradata Pakistan plans to hire 250 new employees over the next year to add to its nearly 300 current employees.

4.   (SBU)  Parent company NCR (National Cash Register Company) is known for making the first mechanical cash registers.  Now, the NCR logo can be seen over ATM machines and is known worldwide as a leader in data warehousing and information technology.  Teradata will take over the data warehousing business and offer consulting solutions to corporate customers, while NCR focuses on products. Teradata will also be added to the S&P 500 Index and the NYSE Archa Tech 100 (SM) Index, an indication that it is a stock worth watching.  NCR shareholders, including executives in Pakistan, received one share of Teradata common stock for every one share of common stock they held in NCR as of September 14, 2007.  NCR has a market capitalization of $4.3 billion and Teradata has a market capitalization of $5.0 billion.  Both NCR and Teradata's stock has been trading around $25 a share this week.

5. (SBU) COMMENT:  Currently Teradata's India operations handle U.S. customers; however, the Pakistan GCC is well positioned to move into the U.S. market.  With increasing labor and other costs in India and a pool of well-educated IT professionals, Pakistan is experiencing growth in many outsourcing, call center, and IT operations.  With its deep client base firmly established in Pakistan's strong telecommunications and financial sector, Teradata is poised to take advantage of continued growth in these sectors.

 END COMMENT. PATTERSON