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    Pakistan’s digital economy under siege by cybercrime

    Ana Mary Joseph
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    Pakistan’s digital economy under siege by cybercrime
    • Federal Investigation Agency inundated with over 722,000 cybercrime complaints between 2020 and 2024.

    Pakistan’s digital transformation, once a sign of progress and modernity is now fraught with peril as cyber scams, data breaches, and elaborate online financial frauds surge across the nation.

    As digital platforms proliferate, con artists have found lucrative new hunting grounds, exploiting vulnerabilities in everything from online banking to social media investment scams.

    Scope of the digital threat

    The true magnitude of this crisis is difficult to overstate. In just four years—from 2020 to 2024—the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was inundated with over 722,000 cybercrime complaints.

    Despite this flood of reports, action has been feeble: less than 10 per cent of cases saw formal investigation, and convictions are depressingly rare, totaling only 152 during the period. In 2024 alone, a reported 13,000 instances of online financial fraud led to more than a thousand arrests—but shockingly, only 17 cases ended in a court verdict.

    These statistics point to a web of inefficiency and a justice apparatus that is, at best, limping behind the pace of technological crime.

    The strain on the financial sector

    The financial industry remains particularly exposed. The State Bank of Pakistan’s response in early 2024 saw record penalties—over PKR 776 million imposed on eight major banks—for failing in key regulatory areas like anti-money laundering and due diligence.

    Moreover, the Banking Mohtasib’s office resolved nearly 28,000 digital fraud cases within the year, restoring PKR 1.65 billion to aggrieved customers, but these efforts are still dwarfed by the sheer volume of unresolved losses. Public confidence, understandably, continues to erode.

    Digital fraud in Pakistan is no longer the domain of small-time crooks—it’s evolved into highly organised, well-resourced rackets. A recent, dramatic case in July 2025 saw the National Cybercrime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) bust a colossal Ponzi scheme run from a Faisalabad call centre, arresting 149 suspects, some of whom were foreign nationals.

    Simultaneously, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) is playing whack-a-mole with illegal digital lending apps—flagging 141 such services exploiting users through mainstream platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp. Many simply resurface under new names after enforcement.

    Systemic weaknesses exposed

    According to the Pakistan Cybersecurity Council, the corporate sector is alarmingly unprepared: more than 60 per cent of companies lack even fundamental safeguards such as encryption or multi-factor authentication. International observers are growing increasingly concerned, and for good reason.

    Despite new laws like the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (2016), the National Cybersecurity Policy (2021), and fresh regulatory bodies in 2025, Pakistan’s cyber defense remains splintered. Jurisdictional disputes between the FIA and NCCIA, in particular, have paralysed coordinated action.

    The nation’s enforcement capacity is critically overstretched. Only 350 cybercrime investigators are tasked with more than 160,000 cases—meaning each officer must grapple with an unmanageable load of around 6,000 complaints per year.

    On a provincial level, resources are almost comically meager: sometimes just two digital tracking devices and a handful of forensic vans for entire regions. Meanwhile, the judiciary is struggling to keep up—lacking technological know-how, specialised courts, or even clear standards for digital evidence interpretation.

    Infrastructure: The weakest link?

    Pakistan Telecommunications Authority’s most recent Cybersecurity Report recorded a 17 per cent increase in attacks on vital networks, a trend underscored by a global 173 per cent spike in phishing—amply reflected in domestic statistics.

    Although the CTDISR-2025 initiative brought in new protective measures, actual compliance is patchy and limited mostly to the country’s biggest telecom players. Sector-based computer emergency response teams (CERTs) for critical industries remain nascent, and overall incident response continues to be hamstrung by lack of resources and strategic focus.

    US and China reach framework for US-controlled TikTok ownership

    Mohammed Fahad
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    US and China reach framework for US-controlled TikTok ownership

    • ByteDance, the app’s Chinese parent, has yet to disclose whether it will license or fully transfer key intellectual property like recommendation algorithms to a US purchaser.

    The ongoing rivalry between the United States and China took a significant turn this week, as officials announced a breakthrough framework to transfer TikTok’s US operations to American control.

    While months of negotiation had previously produced little progress, both sides now signal cautious optimism that a final deal is within reach, pending a scheduled Friday call between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping.

    The stakes are high. With 170 million US users, TikTok represents both a cultural powerhouse and a potential national security flashpoint. The new agreement, described by negotiators as a framework, comes just ahead of a looming September 17th deadline that could have resulted in TikTok being banned from American app stores.

    US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the talks in Madrid were productive, noting that the deadline itself drove both parties to make critical concessions. There’s even a possibility of extending the deadline by up to 90 days to iron out remaining issues.

    Details remain closely guarded, but American officials emphasise that US national security is at the agreement’s core, while Chinese negotiators have focused on preserving cultural “characteristics” of the app—features they consider an asset of soft power.

    “They care about the Chinese identity within the app. For us, it’s a matter of national security,” Bessent clarified.

    Demand strict separation of user data

    President Trump, who owes part of his own political communication success to TikTok’s broad reach—his official channel boasts 15 million followers—has signaled that any Chinese stake in the restructured entity is still under review.

    While lawmakers in Congress, especially after passing a 2024 divestiture law, demand strict separation of user data and algorithms from Chinese control, the administration remains wary of triggering backlash among TikTok’s American fans and social media influencers.

    The path to a final agreement is complicated. The Republican-controlled Congress will need to review and likely approve the arrangement. ByteDance, the app’s Chinese parent, has yet to disclose whether it will license or fully transfer key intellectual property like recommendation algorithms to a US purchaser.

    Chinese officials, for their part, describe the process as an exercise in “basic framework consensus,” and maintain that concessions must be mutual, rather than unilaterally imposed on Chinese firms.

    This budding agreement is taking shape against a backdrop of broader US-China tensions. The two largest economies have clashed over everything from chip exports and rare earth supplies to the regulation of technology giants like Nvidia.

    The most recent meeting at Madrid’s ornate Palacio de Santa Cruz marked the fourth high-level negotiation in as many months, a testament to the rocky diplomatic terrain.

    Own foreign policy goals

    Even as both countries wrangle over TikTok and tariffs, each side is weighing how far it’s willing to go to protect domestic tech champions and pursue their own foreign policy goals.

    The Biden administration (and previously the Trump administration) has blocked Chinese products cited as security risks, while Beijing counters with its own investigations and regulatory crackdowns, as seen in its fresh probe of Nvidia for alleged antitrust violations—a move widely viewed as retaliation.

    As Friday’s call between Trump and Xi approaches, top US and Chinese officials continue to debate, compromise, and jockey for advantage, fully aware that TikTok’s fate is tied to the larger contest for global tech supremacy.

    With the threat of a ban hanging over millions of American users, the outcome could shape digital policy, international trade, and the fortunes of Silicon Valley and Shenzhen alike.

    Nothing gets $200m to drive AI-enabled consumer hardware revolution

    Ana Mary Joseph
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    Nothing gets $200m to drive AI-enabled consumer hardware revolution
    • For AI to reach its full potential, consumer hardware must reinvent itself alongside it, Founder Carl Pei says.
    • Key backers from previous rounds—GV, Highland Europe, EQT, Latitude, I2BF, and Tapestry—also joined this latest fundraise.

    London-based smartphone innovator Nothing has just secured a hefty $200 million investment round, led by Tiger Global, raising the company’s valuation to a striking $1.3 billion.

    The infusion of capital comes as Nothing sets its sights on fusing artificial intelligence with consumer hardware in bold new ways.

    While behemoths like Apple and Samsung still dominate the global smartphone scene, Nothing is carving out its own niche among a select group of European disruptors, joining companies like Fairphone and HMD Global in aiming to shake up the established order.

    Founded by Swedish entrepreneur Carl Pei in 2020 after his stint at OnePlus, Nothing quickly made a name for itself. Its first smartphone debuted in 2022, since followed by innovative earbuds and an unbroken streak of fast growth.

    To date, Nothing has shipped millions of devices and surpassed $1 billion in cumulative sales—no small feat in such a fiercely competitive landscape.

    Carl Pei envisions a future where hardware and AI evolve together. “For AI to reach its full potential, consumer hardware must reinvent itself alongside it,” he remarked following the news. The company’s ambitions extend from current staples like smartphones, earbuds, and wearables to the next frontier—smart glasses, humanoid robotics, electric vehicles, and other emerging categories woven together by a cohesive operating system.

    Key backers from previous rounds—GV, Highland Europe, EQT, Latitude, I2BF, and Tapestry—also joined this latest fundraise. The newest investment nearly doubles the almost $100 million Nothing raised in 2023, spotlighting the market’s confidence in its ambition and future growth.

    As the race for AI-powered hardware accelerates, Nothing seems poised not just to compete, but to help redefine what the future of consumer technology can look like.

    Reforma brings agentic AI to redefine patient care in UAE

    Naushad K. Cherrayil
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    Reforma brings agentic AI to redefine patient care in UAE
    • Has secured $1m in funding and seeks an additional $3m to expand their AI R&D efforts for a broadening array of medical domains.
    • Eyes 1,500 clinics and up to $18m in recurring revenue within three years from the Middle East and North Africa.

    Healthcare is on the brink of a technological revolution, driven by persistent staff shortages, skyrocketing demand for personalised care, and ballooning administrative burdens.

    The sector is grappling with rising inefficiencies and mounting costs—and when teams are stretched thin, patient care inevitably suffers. Studies highlight that administrative overload is reaching a crisis, further complicated by widespread labour shortages that limit valuable patient interaction time.

    Reforma Health, a forward-thinking company established in Dubai in 2024, is setting out to reshape human-to-healthcare communication using AI agents. Their mission is to tackle two stubborn issues – closing costly gaps in patient communication and recapturing lost revenue for clinics.

    A simple vision

    Andrey Perfilyev, CEO and co-founder of Reforma Health, brings both clinical expertise and entrepreneurial spirit to the table.

    When speaking to TechChannel News, he described his passion for using agentic AI to streamline workflows and enhance healthcare outcomes globally. Perfilyev’s vision is simple—make healthcare easier and more accessible for everyone, while empowering providers to focus on meaningful and human-centric care.

    “Generative AI opened the doors for truly patient-centric solutions,” Perfilyev reflected. “That’s why we built our company from scratch in Dubai, with a global ambition.” By engaging directly with clinics, hospitals, and healthcare professionals, Reforma Health is building the trust required to introduce AI into sensitive clinical workflows.

    Reforma Health’s flagship offering, Your Medical Assistance (YMA), is the first of its emerging brands. YMA aims to bridge gaps between patient visits, delivering round-the-clock support with medication reminders, symptom tracking, and practical lifestyle coaching to foster better health outcomes and reduce the risk of complications.

    For health providers, YMA isn’t just a chatbot. It’s an AI-powered assistant that automates administrative tasks—patient outreach, appointment scheduling, and follow-ups—across popular platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram. It integrates directly on a healthcare provider’s secure server, respecting all necessary data protection standards.

    Perfilyev believes that these tools shouldn’t replace clinicians, but rather serve to empower them. “Efficiency will soar for both patients and providers,” he explained. “AI agents help trim staffing needs during peak periods, scale effortlessly during sudden surges or public health scares, and relieve much of the administrative grind.”

    Ambitious expansion plans

    Reforma Health isn’t content to stop at local success. With 11 clinics in Dubai already on board, the team plans to triple this number by the year’s end, then launch into the GCC region and ultimately the broader MENA area. Their ambitious targets? 1,500 clinics and up to $18 million in recurring revenue within three years.

    To fuel this vision, Reforma Health secured $1 million in funding in July this year and is now seeking an additional $3 million to expand their AI R&D efforts for a broadening array of medical domains.

    YMA currently offers three commercial products, each with a distinct mission:

    • First Visit: Already deployed, this agent boosts attendance rates by guiding patients through doctor FAQs, clinic details, pricing, and streamlined appointment booking.
    • Guidance: Supporting patients between visits, this upcoming tool sends medication reminders, prompts for regular testing, and encourages timely follow-up visits.
    • Reactivation: Designed to win back patients who’ve dropped out of care, this agent crafts personalized reminders to nudge them back on track with their treatments.

    All agents are tailored to each clinic’s context, with specific training on its staff, services, and medical specialties, making patient communication genuinely personalised.

    A human touch for the digital future

    Perfilyev’s long-term vision is responsible, human-centric AI that addresses the everyday challenges of both patients and providers. As healthcare’s complexity grows, he argues, the ability to quickly deploy intelligent, compliant AI agents won’t just streamline operations—it’ll become the industry’s defining edge.

    The world faces a critical shortage of healthcare professionals, and Perfilyev is convinced that “AI can be the co-pilot.”

    As primary care moves toward a digital-first, AI-enabled model, innovative solutions are poised to transform patient experience and drive the future of health in the Middle East and beyond, he added.

    Old network devices under siege by hackers

    Ana Mary Joseph
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    Old network devices under siege by hackers

    • The Shadowserver Foundation revealed over 2,200 newly compromised routers caught in the crossfire, quietly serving as cyberattack launchpads.
    • SonicOS, Cisco IOS XE, Belkin Wemo, Realtek SDK, Zyxel, and many others are probed by hundreds of attackers every day.

    Security researchers are waving a red flag: hackers are ramping up their attacks on outdated and unsupported network equipment worldwide, and the targets range from consumer routers sitting in living rooms to gear tucked away in the back closets of businesses.

    The key ingredient in this cybercrime recipe? Old, unpatched devices from brands like Cisco, Linksys, and Araknis Networks, whose end-of-life (EOL) status leaves them ripe for exploitation.

    A perfect playground for hackers

    Let’s face it—attackers aren’t picky. As long as a device is exposed and vulnerable, it’s fair game. According to supply chain security firm Eclypsium, there’s been a dramatic uptick in malicious scanning campaigns.

    These scans trace back to already-hacked hardware, creating a self-perpetuating cycle: compromised routers are used to hunt and infect even more outdated systems.

    Recent warnings from The Shadowserver Foundation revealed over 2,200 newly compromised routers caught in the crossfire, quietly serving as cyberattack launchpads.

    What’s especially concerning is just how old some of these exploited vulnerabilities are. Attackers don’t even need the latest zero-days; bugs from over a decade ago—many long forgotten—are still proving effective.

    Favourite targets: Outdated routers everywhere

    The attacks have a few clear favorites:

    • Cisco Small Business RV Series: These routers are mostly EOL, meaning no patches, no support, and little hope of protection unless replaced.
    • Linksys LRT Series: While some extended support lingers, most are also past their prime.
    • Araknis AN-300-RT-4L2W: Also EOL, with no more firmware updates on the horizon.

    Combine this with years-old vulnerabilities, like CVE-2018-017, and you have a hacker’s paradise. Despite being seven years old, this flaw—often exploited by Russian threat actors—remains in play thanks to poor patching and lingering legacy systems.

    Low visibility, high risk

    There’s a frustrating reality behind this surge: plenty of organizations and home users don’t apply available fixes, and few have robust monitoring for network gear that “just works.”

    Special attention falls on old protocols like Cisco Smart Install (SMI) and SNMP, which are still accepted by outdated gear and offer easy back doors for attackers. Even the FBI has flagged these practices as a notable risk.

    “It doesn’t matter to the attackers as long as it works,” the Eclypsium report summarises.

    Unfortunately, many of these “dusty corners” of IT—forgotten network appliances and legacy machines humming in the background—are precisely where disaster tends to start. And once a device is compromised, it often gets roped into scanning the internet for more prey.

    Most sought-after vulnerabilities

    Security honeypots and monitoring projects show exactly which flaws attackers love most. Huawei’s Home Gateway HG532 is currently topping the charts, with nearly 600 IP addresses hammering the internet looking for vulnerable targets. This device harbours a 2017 critical flaw that hackers can exploit remotely via malicious packets.

    Older vulnerabilities are hardly off-limits. SonicOS, Cisco IOS XE, Belkin Wemo, Realtek SDK, Zyxel, and many others are probed by hundreds of attackers every day. Some of these bugs date back over a decade, but they persist on unpatched devices.

    What needs to happen now?

    The fixes are clear, even if implementation isn’t always easy:

    • Audit all connected devices for age, vendor support status, and known vulnerabilities.
    • Disable legacy, unencrypted protocols—especially TELNET, SNMP, and SMI.
    • Patch, upgrade, or (better yet) replace outdated hardware susceptible to long-known issues.
    • Don’t ignore “set-it-and-forget-it” appliances—they need attention, too!

    Attackers won’t stop scanning for weak spots. The only way to avoid joining the growing list of victims: shine a light into those dusty corners and finally retire the tech relics that put the entire network at risk.

    Middle East joins AI race with Arabic-centric models

    Ana Mary Joseph
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    Middle East joins AI race with Arabic-centric models
    • UAE is openly staking its claim for AI leadership with Falcon while Saudi Arabia’s response is Humain and Egypt is raising the bar with Intella’s Ziila.
    • The region’s future won’t be written by someone else’s algorithm. It’ll be coded—letter by letter, dialect by dialect, value by value—at home.

    Artificial intelligence is shaking up the tech scene across the Arabic-speaking world, and there’s a distinct buzz in the air: who will lead the charge to build AI that truly understands and represents the diversity of Arabic language and culture?

    Arabic is the linguistic glue that connects over 450 million people, making it the world’s fourth most spoken language. But teaching machines to understand Arabic isn’t like giving them a crash course in English or French.

    There’s the infamous three-letter root system, a linguistic Rubik’s cube that throws off even seasoned algorithms. Add to that the dizzying patchwork of dialects—from the Maghreb’s North African twist to the melodic Levantine and the unique Gulf “Khaleejy”—and you’ve got a formidable AI challenge on your hands.

    And let’s not forget “Arabizi”: the texting code-switch that blends Latin letters and numbers with Arabic, like when “habibi” (my dear) becomes “7abibi” in a WhatsApp message. This digital vernacular adds yet another layer for language models to decode.

    Digital independence by design

    Unlike the one-size-fits-all philosophy championed by Silicon Valley, or China’s turbo-charged, collectivist approach, the Arabic world’s AI ambitions are rooted in a desire for digital independence—and a flavour all its own.

    The UAE is openly staking its claim for AI leadership with Falcon, a free, open-source language model tailored to Arabic speakers. With versions optimised for the region’s linguistic and energy realities, Falcon represents not just a technological leap but a statement:

    “AI for our people, on our terms.” Its accessibility goes beyond borders, providing Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America with a vital alternative to the usual US-or-China AI monopoly.

    Saudi Arabia’s response is Humain—a chatbot designed with Arabic-first protocols and a strong regulatory backbone, built to serve domestic needs in government, education, and business securely. No English-dominated solutions required.

    Egypt, meanwhile, is raising the bar with Intella’s Ziila. Unlike stiff, textbook Arabic bots, Ziila “gets” everyday speech. Supermarkets, banks, and telecom companies are signing up, drawn to its knack for real-world dialects. Its $12.5 million in funding is a bet that understanding local nuance can unlock new frontiers in AI interaction.

    Here’s what sets the Arabic AI race apart: the question isn’t just about dialect, but about aligning technology with religious values and cultural expectations. While some models chase dialect mastery or sector-specific prowess, others are tuned to respect Islamic legal traditions and social norms.

    With Islam’s rich legal schools (Sunni, Shia, and their many branches), the region is ensuring AI does more than translate—it represents.

    A diverse ecosystem

    Despite regional breakthroughs—an open Falcon here, a regulated Humain there—the Arabic world hasn’t produced a Google-scale juggernaut in the AI field. But, perhaps that’s part of the point: rather than relying on one “super app,” the region’s approach is collaborative, possible for the many—not just the few.

    As AI continues to evolve, we’ll see more models tailored to the rhythm of Arabic speech, the codes of its youth, and its deep cultural values. The only certainty? The region’s future won’t be written by someone else’s algorithm. It’ll be coded—letter by letter, dialect by dialect, value by value—at home.

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