July 20, 2024
By Bilal Baseer
ISLAMABAD
Claiming to combat “false propaganda” on social media and to strengthen cybersecurity, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has announced an open bid for tenders for the deployment of firewalls.
The PTA has invited these bids through the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), with a tender submission deadline of July 26, 2024.
According to media reports, the Government of Pakistan expects these advanced firewalls to prevent the spread of content against state institutions and to identify and block social media profiles disseminating misinformation.
In addition to advanced firewalls, web application firewalls will be deployed to provide further protection by monitoring and filtering Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) traffic from web applications. These firewalls are expected to feature advanced load balancing, and come with a reported five-year hardware warranty to ensure continuous and reliable protection.
Mubashar Sargana, a cybersecurity researcher, analyst and trainer, told Voicepk.net that there are two distinct tenders issued by PTA. One tender is for the firewall itself while the other is for non-intrusive tools intended to monitor security, and maintain checks and balances on internet traffic to curb and block malicious activities. These non-intrusive scanning tools are meant for all public infrastructure.
According to Sargana, the tender specifies that the tool must not only monitor but also have the capability to block malicious activities.
He said, the second tender concerns firewalls, which as per the PTA, information will be used for their own system security. The specific motive behind this procurement is unclear. However, the firewall has the capability to filter content, monitor specific terms and content and limit bandwidth.
“This can slow down service access and restrict functionality, such as preventing the sharing of content or media like voice messages and photos on applications like WhatsApp. This means that while the social media application itself is not completely blocked, its functionality is partially restricted,” he added.
Sargana also mentioned that a national firewall is another project on which the PTA and the government have declined to comment, citing national security concerns. This project also aims to monitor social media activities.
Supporters of freedom of expression are concerned over reports that the Government is installing a firewall at the internet gateway to control social networking sites.
According to experts, after the installation of the firewall, it will be somewhat easier for the government to remove controversial content and identify users who upload it. The purpose of the firewall is to ultimately identify users who upload such content and to limit public access to it.
Digital rights experts in Pakistan have expressed concerns that the installation of the firewall violates fundamental freedoms such as the right to access information, freedom of expression and individual privacy.
Aftab Alam, a lawyer observing the legal aspects of cyber affairs, said that the installation of the firewall would effectively end citizens’ right to privacy.
“As a result of this government action, the state will have access to all private information of users and any citizen can be punished for uploading any content that the state deems objectionable,” Alam said.
Farieha Aziz, a digital rights activist, told the media that the implementation of such measures poses only disadvantages. She emphasized that while the government stands to benefit, it is the public that will ultimately suffer.