Pakistan’s telecommunications regulator says it uncovered 326 significant cyber threat indicators during a year of monitoring the Dark Web, with website defacement emerging as the most common problem.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s Cyber Security Annual Report 2025-26, covering July 2025 through June 2026, breaks down the findings: 174 website defacement incidents, 87 data leaks, 41 distributed denial-of-service threats and 24 cases involving the sale or advertisement of sensitive information on Dark Web forums and illegal marketplaces.
Website defacement alone accounted for 53% of all indicators logged by the National Telecommunications Security Operations Centre. Data leaks made up 27%, DDoS incidents 13% and the sale of sensitive information 7%.
The report warns that credentials and organizational information exposed in data leaks could fall into the hands of cybercriminals. It describes website defacement as the dominant threat category, reflecting persistent attempts to compromise online platforms, and says DDoS threats highlight the risk of disruption to internet-facing systems and digital infrastructure.
According to the PTA, round-the-clock Dark Web intelligence monitoring has sharpened its ability to spot emerging threats, compromised digital assets and malicious activity that conventional monitoring might miss. The nTSOC keeps watch on Dark Web forums, illegal marketplaces, commercial threat intelligence platforms and open-source channels, then cross-checks what it finds against other threat intelligence feeds to assess potential impact and decide what needs further investigation.
The report also tracks blocks on URLs, applications and social media accounts. It shows a sharp jump in September 2025 in the number of URLs and social media accounts flagged for blocking, followed by a decline in the months after. Social media blocking indicators stayed comparatively higher than URL and application figures for much of the period.
The PTA says continuous monitoring of deep and Dark Web sources and other intelligence channels has improved threat visibility and helped identify malicious infrastructure and indicators of compromise. The findings, it adds, underscore how important proactive cyber threat intelligence has become in limiting exposure of sensitive information and strengthening the resilience of Pakistan’s telecom networks and digital services.
