Day: September 29, 2021

Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Fayaz Ahmed Tarin on Wednesday revealed that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) systems were constantly and on regular basis subjected to cyberattacks – on average, approximately 71,000 times a month.

The minister informed the National Assembly in writing that subject to the immediate request for procurement going through, a more secure organization would evolve over the next 4-6 months.

The minister elucidated that the volume of cyberattacks had, over the past couple of years, sharply increased, as the tools and methods available to the hacking community had become more powerful and sophisticated.

During the past three years, the FBR systems were breached three times (with around a 0.001% success rate). The details are as follows:

i. 18-02-2019 to 22-02-2020 (possible data exfiltration from legacy systems)

ii. 23-03-2021 to 23-03-2021 (website defacement)

iii. 13-04-2021 to 19-08-2021 (no data exfiltration; limited to destruction of virtual machines causing major disruption)

The (i) breach in 2019 was not detected till the investigation into the latest (iii) breach. The (ii) breach was minor in nature and the infrastructure hosting the FBR website was hardened. Therefore, a cyber-breach-related audit was not carried out to date.

However, there is an ongoing investigation into the current (iii) breach with the help of a third party. This third party is helping to deep-scan the entire FBR network, including all machines located in the field formations, in order to determine the possible point of the initial breach. Once this gets determined and remedial actions are taken, a full third-party security audit will be carried out to determine any remaining vulnerabilities. A full action plan to counter the vulnerabilities will be put together and its execution to be monitored.

The (i) breach in 2019 was not detected till the investigation into the latest (iii) breach. The (ii) breach was minor in nature and the infrastructure hosting the FBR website was hardened. Therefore, a cyber-breach-related audit was not carried out to date.

The National Assembly was further informed that technology continues to evolve at breakneck speed and requires constant re-investment. Historically, investment into technology at FBR has remained restricted to specific periods directly related to financing being made available by donor agencies. This method of investment creates technology debt in-between such periods, which can lead to vulnerabilities going unaddressed, which can consequently create opportunities for malicious actors, such as what transpired during this recent event.

It is highly recommended that an annual budget for technology refresh be allocated to FBR, which would allow the organization to keep its technology up to date and allow it to take full advantage of advancements taking place in that space.

This should be equivalent to 0.05% of revenue collected, which would have amounted to Rs. 2.4 billion last year. This amount would have been sufficient for FBR to have upgraded much of its information security infrastructure, which may have prevented this recent incident.

Based on the emergency declared by the Cabinet, considering the recent incident, FBR has been authorized to undertake emergency procurement of Cyber & Information Security-related hardware, software, and services to protect the organization from such future attacks. Having said that, the threat landscape is always evolving at a faster pace, as compared to organizations trying to protect themselves. Therefore, this initial procurement may protect FBR for the immediate & medium future.

However, continued investment, as described above, must be put in place to protect and allow the organization to evolve into a truly data-driven digital organization for the longer term.

Source: Pro Pakistani

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has imposed two percent additional customs duty on the import of cars, jeeps, and light and heavy commercial vehicles lying in completely knocked down (CKD) condition and components and those requiring subassemblies.

According to the FBR SRO. 1265(I)/2021, issued on Wednesday to amend the SRO. 856(I)2021, the two-percent additional customs duty would also be applicable to the import under Notification No. S.R.O. 655(1)/2006, dated June 5, 2006.

The SRO. 655 (I)/2006 is related to the exemption of raw materials, sub-components, components, and subassemblies, as are not manufactured locally, imported for the manufacture of components and assemblies.

The imports under the SRO. 655(1)/2006 included sub-components, components, and subassemblies of automotive vehicles, automotive climate control equipment, and automotive batteries meant for in-house use or supply to the origninal equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and assemblers or sale in the open market.

The said items are used in the assembling of agricultural tractors, road tractors for Semitrailers (Prime Movers) of 280 HP and above; road tractors for semitrailers (Prime Movers) less than 280 HP; fully CNG-dedicated vehicles and bicycles falling under different PCT headings.

As per SRO.1265(I)/2021, two percent on goods falling under tariff slab of 30% and higher slabs as well as slabs of specific rates, except the following which shall be charged at the rate of two percent:

• Goods falling under PCT codes 1507.1000, 1507.9000, 1511.1000, 1511.9010, 1511.9020, 1511.9030, 1512.1100, 1512.1900, 1512.2100, 1512.2900, 1514.1100, 1514.1900, 1514.9100 and 1514.9900;

• Cars, jeeps, light commercial vehicles in CKD condition exceeding 1,000cc and heavy commercial vehicles in CKD condition; and

• Import under Notification No. S.R.O. 655(1)/2006, dated June 5, 2006.

Source: Pro Pakistani

The electricity generation cost per unit (kWh) has precisely increased by up to 61.55 percent in August 2021 as compared to August 2020.

According to official documents submitted by a power purchasing company to National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), the cost of generating electricity from LNG increased by Rs. 6.42 per unit and from diesel increased by Rs. 3.19 per unit in merely one year.

According to the documents available with ProPakistani, the cost of power generation on diesel, furnace oil, coal, LNG, and gas has gone up. The cost of power per unit from diesel has increased from Rs. 19.43 to Rs. 22.62, while the electricity generated from natural gas reached Rs. 1.3 per unit last month, which is a higher cost compared to the last year.

Similarly, the unit price of electricity from LNG went up from Rs. 7.02 to Rs. 13.44. And, the cost per unit of furnace oil increased from Rs. 12.23 to Rs. 18.24.

Moreover, in the last single year, the cost of generating electricity from coal per unit increased from Rs. 6.03 to Rs. 9.03. The rates of electricity imported from Iran also increased by Rs. 2.14. The import from Iran in August 2020 was at Rs. 10.21 per unit, whereas now it is not being imported even at the rate of Rs. 12.35 per unit.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed for giving export targets to trade officers appointed in the missions abroad with an aim to increase the exports and assess their performance.

Chairing a meeting held in Islamabad on Wednesday to review the impact of measures taken to enhance exports, the Prime Minister stated that the government was providing incentives to exporters. He emphasized on diversification of export products and exploring untapped geographical areas where a market existed for Pakistani exports.

The meeting was attended by Minister Finance Shaukat Fayaz Tarin, Advisor on Commerce Abdul Razaq Dawood, National Security Advisor Dr. Moeed Yousaf, and senior government officers.

Secretary Commerce Division briefed the meeting that from 2015-18 to the year 2020-21, exports marked an increase of $3.8 billion in value-added products, while an increase of $2.7 billion was recorded in non-traditional products (export diversification) in the same period. This increase is attributable to the investor-friendly policies and incentives provided to exporters by the present government, he remarked.

The meeting was informed that work had already been started on diversification of products and markets to increase exports. It was informed that previously, only textile-related products were exported, however now steps were being taken to export non-traditional products, including minerals, food products, fruits, IT-related products, and ceramics, etc.

Source: Pro Pakistani

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