A recent report published in The Intercept claimed that the United States National Security Agency (NSA) allegedly spied on top civil-military leadership in Pakistan using malware. A malware codenamed SECONDDATE allegedly built by the NSA was employed by the agency hackers to breach targets in Pakistan’s National Telecommunications Corporation’s (NTC) VIP Division, which contained documents pertaining to “the backbone of Pakistan’s Green Line communications network” used by “civilian and military leadership,” according to a document obtained by The Intercept. SECONDDATE is described as a tool that intercepts web requests and redirects browsers on target computers to an NSA web server. The server then infects the web requests with malware. The malware server, also known as FOXACID, has been described in earlier leaks made by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. SECONDDATE, however, is just one method the NSA allegedly uses to redirect a target’s browser to the FOXACID server. Another document obtained by The Intercept revealed that an NSA Special Source Operations division newsletter describes how agency software other than SECONDDATE was used to repeatedly direct targets in Pakistan to the FOXACID servers to infect target computers. The Intercept confirmed the “authenticity” of the SECONDDATE malware using a data leak reportedly made by Snowden.
This is not the first report that has highlighted the subversive activities of the United States. Over the past few years, the US has been alleged of spying not only on its own citizens but also the top leadership of many other countries. Last year, a report claiming that the NSA had tapped German Chancellery conversations for decades shook the world. The US repeatedly denied the allegations, but the whistle-blowers including WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden leaked some vital information that made the US secret activities not so secret. Furthermore, the US government also had to face severe criticism following the revelations that it had been spying on its citizens as well.
In the case of Pakistan, although the act of spying is condemnable as it infringes upon various international laws and sovereignty of the country, the news should not have come as a shock to the top circles. Pakistan has been on the forefront in the war on terror, receiving billions of dollars from the US and its allies. Furthermore, the trust deficit created over the years due to Pakistan’s alleged double games and the allegations on Pakistan for not discriminating between terrorist groups also signifies the importance of surveillance for the US.
In the wake of these revelations, Pakistan’s reaction should be measured as it cannot afford to estrange its relations with its principal ally in the war on terror. The authorities in Islamabad should realise that any outrageous step would not bear any fruit, as the US, in all probability, would deny all the allegations as per its pattern in many earlier cases. What is needed is to secure the communication systems of Pakistan, and that includes the ones that the top civilian and military leadership use for their communication purposes. *