ISLAMABAD: The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has indicated that ordinary individuals or hackers could be responsible for the recent audio leaks involving politicians, judges and their relatives, among others.

The claim was made in a report, submitted to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) via the Ministry of Defence, during a hearing last week.

According to the report, “there are various tools which provide the capability of audio recording from smartphones. These tools are cheap and easily available for anyone to buy”.

The report also highlighted the existence of groups offering paid services to stealthily extract data from devices through various means.

“Possibility exists, callers can also record each other’s conversations/calls on speaker and afterwards it may/can be leaked or hacked,” the report said.

It said that “with the advancement of Artificial Intelligence, there are various tools available which can alter the voice and change the content of any conversation. These tools can be used to mimic someone”.

However, the country’s premier intelligence agency expressed its inability to trace the source of the leaks, citing encryption as a significant barrier. “Being encrypted traffic, technically it is not possible to ascertain the source; only SM [social media] platforms can provide information,” it said.

The ISI report suggested that the FIA’s cybercrimes wing, designated under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) for investigating cybercrimes, should take further action. “Section 35 of PECA has the powers to have access to or demand any information in readable and comprehensive format or plain version from service providers (SM platforms).”

It also suggested the court direct the FIA’s cybercrime wing to investigate the matter further and obtain more information.

The ISI’s report came after the IHC summoned the directors general of the FIA and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) last week.

They were called to present reports on the audio leaks in a hearing concerning petitions filed by Bushra Bibi, wife of former prime minister Imran Khan, and Najam Saqib, son of former Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar. Both petitioners are seeking to halt investigations linked to their leaked telephonic conversations.

The court has also involved all mobile service providers and the top six fixed-line service providers in the case, requiring them to submit reports. The court has sought a list from the PTA of all mobile operators and top fixed-line operators.

Justice Babar Sattar also included the Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) and the All Pakistan Newspaper Soci­ety (APNS) as necessary parties, given the widespread broadcast and reporting of illegally recor­ded voice calls across electronic and print media.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2023