Pakistan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) confirmed on Friday that their official account on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) was compromised overnight.
The breach resulted in a misleading post falsely claiming that Pakistan was urgently appealing for international loans in the wake of losses allegedly sustained from an Indian military strike. Authorities quickly dismissed the post as fabricated, stating that the Economic Affairs Division’s account had been hacked.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Fact Checker unit also flagged the incident on X, sharing a screenshot of the fake post and reiterating that the content was not genuine. “The account was hacked,” it said unequivocally.
This cyberattack follows heightened digital security concerns in the country. Just two days earlier, Pakistan’s National Cyber Emergency Response Team had issued a red alert in light of escalating cyber threats linked to the ongoing military tensions with India.
The advisory warned of potential disruptions to critical infrastructure and an uptick in misinformation campaigns, including phishing attempts and the spread of false narratives.
