Iran is now in possession of the most advanced US drone, the RQ-170 "Beast of Kandahar"

It seems to be drone season here at TechLahore! Right after we wrote about Pakistan’s Burraq UCAV, one of the hottest pieces of news that came out revolved around the downing or “forced landing” of a top secret US drone in Iran. The RQ-170, also known as “The Beast of Kandahar” was only deployed in late 2009 and represents the absolute cutting edge in American reconnaissance and autonomous drone/UAV technology. Early reports about the incident revolved around the debate of whether the drone had in fact been downed, what kind of drone it was, how it was downed and so on. It took several days for the facts to come to light. Initially, the US had declared via ISAF, that a drone “may” have “strayed” into Iran as a consequence of loss of control during a mission over eastern Afghanistan. On the face of it, this was a ridiculous position to take because it wouldn’t make sense for the US to use a stealth drone for missions over Afghanistan, a country over which it has complete airspace control. Following this, a US spokesperson explicitly confirmed that satellite pictures had shown the drone lay utterly destroyed and was hence not going to be useful to the Iranians. Then further tidbits of information started to come out. That in fact the drone was not operated by ISAF, but by the CIA. That in fact it was conducting a spy mission over Iran. And yes, that the drone was in tip-top shape and was, rather unfortunately, the vaunted RQ-170.

All this was rather embarrassing and quite reminscent of the May Day incident in 1960 when Nikita Khruschev’s Soviet Union shot down Francis Gary Powers’ U2 spy-plane. Interestingly, the Soviets held on to the wreckage for a day or so and let the Americans proclaim that the aircraft downed over the USSR was in fact a “weather balloon”. Once the U2 wreckage was shown, President Eisenhower had to back down from this position. But confidence was high in the US that Gary Powers would have either died, or would have taken the poison pill was he supplied with. Neither happened, and three days into the incident, Gary Powers was paraded in Moscow, leading to a very unfortunate situation for the US State Dept. By the way, if you are interested in learning more about the U2 incident, you should read Michael Beschloss’ excellent book on the subject, titled “May Day”.

But let us come to the topic we are exploring here today. Now that Iran has this drone, what US tech has possibly been compromised? What could the Iranians learn from this and what areas should the US now be super-careful about? Here’s what we think:

1. Airframe and low-observable design: While this is by no means the most important piece of information that can be gleaned from this drone, being in possession of a confirmed LO platform does allow someone to analyze it completely and replicate it. As far as the physical elements of design which contribute to stealth go, Iran should be able to get 100% of that information simply by observing, measuring and modeling this aircraft.

2. Materials: Reverse engineering many materials is entirely possible by studying their chemical composition. For example, RAM coatings. If the RQ-170 employs these, they should be analyzable and replicable given a reasonably advanced chemical industry, which Iran certainly has. It is not unreasonable to expect that Iran will be able to reverse engineer any chemical RAM coatings/”paint” used on the RQ-170.

3. Propulsion: There are two elements involved here; the engine itself, and the techniques used to reduce the engine’s heat/sound signature. Let me start by tackling the first. We don’t know how advanced the power plant in the RQ-170 is, but reverse engineering a complex jet engine may not be possible in a short timeframe. Would it be particularly important? Probably not, because the RQ-170 is not known for its high performance in terms of power or speed. Could Iran pass on information about the engine to the Russians and Chinese and let them study it for what that’s worth? Sure. But this should not be a particularly interesting subject for the Iranians in the RQ-170 context… to our minds, at least.

4. Techniques used for signature reduction: The RQ-170 design will likely employ numerous techniques to reduce the heat (IR) signature emanating from the engine or other active sources in the aircraft. It would also likely use techniques to reduce audio signature. Iran can definitely get a lot of value by studying the design, materials used and techniques employed to achieve this signature reduction. The Iranians have their own stealth project, the “Sofre Mahi”. This analysis could help them advance that stealth fighter development effort.

5. The actual audio signature of the RQ-170: This speaks more to detecting the presence of aircraft like the RQ-170 in future. For example, does the powerplant in the ’170 give off a particular “whine”, i.e. does it have a distinct audio signature? Depending on whether this is a high frequency, it could be possible to deploy audio sensors particularly tuned to listen for this pitch as a means for detection.

6. The all-aspect radar signature of the RQ-170: No design is perfect. There may be certain aspects which produce a higher signature than others. Now that Iran can study the full response profile of an RQ-170, it may learn more about how to detect these aircraft in future using radar configurations.

7. The cameras and sensors: This would be a huge asset for the Iranians in two ways. First, they will now know the exact capabilities of this surveillance platform in terms of resolution, light spectrum performance and numerous other aspects. This means they could plan on how to evade such surveillance. Because it takes a long time to develop new cameras which provide a quantum leap in capability, for some time, the Iranians will now know and understand the US state of the art. This might help them work around these capabilities for the foreseeable future. Second, if not in all respects, at least some pieces of the camera will be useful to Iran from a reverse engineering perspective. High quality optics and CCD sensors may be replicable only with assistance from China, but given the political realities of today, We can safely assume the Chinese will be leveraged in this case. The sensors are not just limited to cameras; legend has it that the RQ-170 can pick up chemical traces and can also intercept electronic communication. All these sensors would be a windfall not only because Iran can now learn how to avoid detection, but also due to the reverse engineering possibilities.

8. The transceivers: There will be numerous transceivers on board and each of these will give the Iranians lots of information that can be used to develop cyber warfare capabilities to neutralize US drones, and also the means to eavesdrop on US communications. For example, the satellite transponder will tell the Iranians exactly which frequencies are used by US drones for sat link-up. Could the Iranians develop balloon-based transmitters that “jam” or “spoof” these frequencies and deploy these over their own country, thus making it difficult for these drones to have a clean sat linkup? The Iranians will also discover the frequencies and methods used for line-of-sight control of these drones – these can similarly be useful to jam, confuse or otherwise take control of the drone. If the Iranians are to be believed, they have already mastered the art of the forced drone takeover, but being in physical possession of the transponders can only help them more. But what about encryption, you might ask. Hang on… I’ll get to that.

9. The algorithms: This is a tough one. One line of thought says that it would be impossible to extract any “code” from this platform. Perhaps. But another line of thinking says that the processors and controllers employed in military projects are not much different to those available commercially. Yes, they have much higher tolerances and quality standards, but a lot of the basic technology is the same. The RQ-170 would likely be full of programmed controllers which carry “firmware” or code that encapsulates various algorithms employed by the aircraft. For example, what does the aircraft do when sat link up is lost? Knowing these behaviours can help Iran advance their own drone and stealth programs, as well as understand how to foil the functioning of the RQ-170 and other US drones (it is likely that many of these control algorithms and “protocols” would be similar for many US drone types). But can the Iranians get to the “code”? Wouldn’t it be encrypted? Yes. It would be. But blackbox reverse engineering techniques can still be used where a certain set of inputs are applied and the output behaviour studied. You may not see the code, but you know what it does.

10. Encryption: This would apply both to the radio/satellite transceiver links as well as to any data or code stored on the RQ-170′s own systems. It is important to point out that just knowing specifically what kind of encryption is being employed, and being in possession of a “decoder”, i.e. the RQ-170, is going to help the Iranians, and possibly the Chinese. Recall that a big effort during WW-II involved the allies just getting their hands on an Enigma machine, the German encryption device. Will the RQ-170 be an “Enigma” for Iran or China? Obviously, the state of the art in encryption has advanced and it won’t be quite that simple. However, it is also important to point out that the Chinese are definitely in possession of equipment that poses a significant decryption threat. Take a look at the top 10 super computers and you’ll find that China was #1 until just a few months ago, and will be #1 again soon. The massive computational power required to decrypt at least some of the information assets aboard the RQ-170 might well be within China’s reach. Quantum computing, in particular, has shown that encryption is not as strong as once thought.

There are probably many more hidden secrets aboard the ’170, but in the interest of keeping this a “Top 10″ list, we’ll take a breather here and see how events unfold.

At the end of the day, we all just want peace and calm in the world. It’s not clear what man has ever achieved by going at his fellow man’s throat. Let’s hope things calm down globally and we can finally live in a peaceful world where Veena Malik’s antics are the only polarizing issue!

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Operatives at the Pentagon want to be on your friend list without you knowing it

This news item should have gotten a lot more coverage than it did. The Pentagon has launched a programme under which their operatives will be creating thousands of false identities on social networks to engage in “conversations” with people in the ME, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia. The idea is to use software as a force multiplier and as a means to conduct urdu, pushto, darri and arabic conversations with people in this region in a way that causes them to believe they are speaking to a native and/or a friend. These conversations then seek to expose those who might have views with which the Pentagon disagrees. Since the entire program will be run under wraps, it is not possible to get a real sense of what opinions and thoughts will raise red flags. It is also not possible to entirely understand the manner in which these conversations will be had.

It is not hard to see how a system like this can suffer from widespread abuse. If you engage with hundreds of thousands of people in the region – a region which is clearly not very happy with America’s foreign policy – and “design” conversations to entrap and ensnare, then thousands of perfectly innocent people with charged emotions may end up falling prey.

There are also other fears… what if the profiles being made are not just fictitious people you may not know (and might be more guarded with), but hijacked profiles or real people you are in fact connected with? You might think you’re talking to a friend who may turn out to be someone sitting in Langley or inside the Pentagon. Since networks like Facebook do not prevent two profiles with the same name being created, your friend, “Ahmad Khan”, for example, may have had his name, profile and his picture copied by a third party which then seeks to extend a “Friend” request. You may think Ahmad accidentally deleted you and is just readding you, or forgot the password to his previous account and has made a new one. However, behind this hijacked identity anyone could be pulling the strings and causing you to expose information you do not trust them with.

The world is increasingly becoming a 1984-like control freak society driven and controlled by paranoid individuals. For it is not the people who resist such control that are paranoid, but those who suspect each and every person in this region of ill intentions. And those who would go so far as to spend millions of dollars in a false-identity information gathering programme directed at millions of citizens of sovereign countries, while they reside in their own homes. A liberal interpretation of cyber warfare may include such a campaign as an assault on the citizens of an entire region. Either way, the only defence against abuse of such a system and attempts at entrapment, are to maintain a responsible and limited online persona. No point having your words taken out of context by trigger happy intelligence agencies prowling the ‘net…

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Computer Security is of great interest to us at TechLahore. We’ve covered the topic often, from the a recent AV product developed in Karachi, to the latest Friendjacking Social Networking hacks. As a follow-up to our post covering the 25th anniversary of the first PC virus, we wanted to share this short but awesome documentary by F-Secure that uncovers the origins of the BRAIN virus.

So without further ado, here’s the video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnedOWfPKT0

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Facebook chat is being hacked, your friends are being hijacked! You'd better watch out 'cause it's a deadly attack!

I was recently logged in to my Facebook account when a friend I’m connected to, but don’t often communicate with, initiated a Facebook chat with me. I was a little surprised because this was the first time the person in question was reaching out like this. Not being particularly technically savvy, I didn’t really expect them IM’ing me on FB, of all places. The message was rather vague… it started off with “Hi TL!” and so I responded with a polite, “Hey Wazzzup!!?“. Next thing I know, I’m getting winkies and smilies and in the middle of it all, she says, “Check this link out: bit.ly/somelinkfoo“. I was almost about to click it when the suspicious side of my brain took control and sent a priority interrupt down to my click-finger, causing it to halt abruptly in mid-air. Catastrophe averted.

Turns out, the link was to a site that hosts all sorts of Trojans, byzantine Javascript code and other nefarious nonsense. And my friend’s account had been hacked. Now, I don’t know this to be the case for sure, but I would guess the person doing the chatting was no person at all, and merely a script. A few hours later as I was chatting with another (legitimate, this time) friend, I got a chat popup from yet another friend with similar links. A second later, the person I was chatting to also received the same message from the same person since the hijacked account belonged to a common friend! So, the worm/script/watever-you-want-to-call-it had some brains. It was actively traversing friends lists, looking at folks that were connected, or perhaps actively chatting and sending them promotional and/or nefarious links. Hmm. So in addition to virii, trojans, bluejacking, cell phone worms, stuxnet-style worms that attack nuclear infrastructure and all other manner of evil code, we’ve also got Friendjacking going on now. Time that all such chat enabled services provide privacy and security controls so you can set preferences that determine which of your connections can initiate chat requests with you.

I made the term “Friendjacking” up, of course, but you get the point. I’m sure if it’s happening on Facebook, it can and will happen on Gmail, Gtalk, Skype and numerous other chat-enabled networks. Just makes me wonder how people have the time to waste on nonsensical – not to mention illegal – stuff like this when they could use their programming skills to build something worthwhile in stead.

I guess Jackasses will be Jackasses…

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The World's first computer virus, BRAIN, was developed in Lahore, Pakistan. It spread throughout the world; a floppy disk boot sector at a time!

Some of you may already know that the very first PC computer virus was developed in our very own Lahore, back in 1986. The invention is generally attributed to the Alvi brothers, Basit and Amjad. However, the role of their friend, Ashar Nisar, said to be the real brain (no pun intended!) behind the operation, is often overlooked. We did a piece a while back which covered the BRAIN virus and the Alvi brothers. And we’ve written about Ashar also.

While most people consider computer virii to be harmful – and they are correct in their thinking – the very first virus, called BRAIN, had a rather innocent purpose. It simply propagated itself without causing damage to software or data, without stealing any information or destroying your OS. Innocent as it was, it replicated the following message on every disk it spread to: “Welcome to the Dungeon (c) 1986 Basit and Amjad (pvt) Ltd.“

The brothers had not imagined that this code would spread so far and wide, but it did. And they were a little taken aback by how a simple tool, designed to track who copied their disks, could take on a life of its own. They are also rumoured to have made the world’s first PC anti-virus, specifically targeted at cleaning the boot sector and removing the BRAIN virus.

So while you can spin this story a dozen different ways, the fact is that it underscores the existence of a tremendously talented pool of computer programmers in Pakistan. And also that while the virus genre was transformed into something very nefarious later on, the “evil”, if you will, was injected into it by others. Not by its Pakistani creators.

What piqued our curiosity, then, was how various different media outlets were covering the 25th Anniversary of the Computer Virus. The New York Times published this story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/opinion/27Gibson.html

“IN January 1986, Basit and Amjad Alvi, sibling programmers living near the main train station in Lahore, Pakistan, wrote a piece of code to safeguard the latest version of their heart-monitoring software from piracy. They called it Brain, and it was basically a wheel-clamp for PCs. Computers that ran their program, plus this new bit of code, would stop working after a year, though they cheerfully provided three telephone numbers, against the day. If you were a legitimate user, and could prove it, they’d unlock you.”

The text is fairly balanced, but for some reason, the picture chosen with the article is that of a nuclear missile. What the missile has to do with this article, only the editors of the NYT know. But if there’s ever been an example of using the power of association to hijack a message, I suppose this is it.

Indian publications such as the Times of India and the Indian Express present this news in what can only be described as a “malicious” manner. For example, the Times of India throws this bit in trying to make it seem that Pakistanis were somehow accusing the US, or were using this virus to “expose” the US:

“A thin, balding man sits dressed unremarkably in a dark suit and tie. “You fixed America!” Farah tells him. “They always claimed to be the biggest protectors of copyright. You showed them up to be the biggest violators.” The man smiles. “Definitely.”

Read more: First PC virus created in Pakistan – The Times of India“

The Indian Express covers the story with the headline, “From Vandalism to Warfare“, and underneath this more attacking headline, simply reproduces the NYT piece.

Reading some of the comments, especially in the Indian Press, makes one wonder how people can take a piece of technology news and use it to feed their bias and hatred towards a certain group or country.

Of course, in addition to the links we’ve cited, there is tons of additional coverage also. A simple search on Google News will list dozens of articles for you. But while the history of the BRAIN virus’ evolution is interesting, what is even more interesting – and sad – is how something not even remotely connected to nuclear missiles or “warfare”, is being presented with undertones that do nothing but spread more hatred and further feed the already sky-high levels of bias.

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CBR's NTN verification service is full of security holes

Electronic government initiatives are excellent, in general. They increase efficiency, make information more accessible to the public, prevent people from standing in long lines and wasting their entire day with the most mundane of things, and generally lead to a happier populace. But when they aren’t thought through properly, they can also result in some really disastrous outcomes.

This case in point was brought to our attention by a watchful reader, Shehzad A. Shehzad came across the online NTN verification service deployed by the CBR (Central Board of Revenue) and immediately pointed it out as a not-so-well thought out initiative. And we agree!

What the service does is that it allows you to enter any Pakistani national’s name or National identity card number (NIC) and get back the individual’s Tax ID, full address and some other information. This in of itself wouldn’t have been all that bad… after all, the NIC is not quite like the US SSN because you can’t exactly use it to apply for a credit card online and then rip someone off. And even in places like the US where privacy watchdogs have been on the prowl for a long time, Tax records are public information and can be searched online. In fact, as long as you know the country of residence of any individual, you can easily get their full address information on a variety of county websites.

So, it’s not just the information that’s the issue… it’s the fact that too much of it is being revealed, and it is not being protected from automated attacks/database replication attempts. For example, why give out the NIC information when the service is expressly an tax number verification service? Is full address information necessary to verify someone’s NTN? What about just giving the city, or how about even the street without the house number?

Since there is no use of Captcha or other robot avoidance mechanisms, a simple scripted robot could easily pull information from this database by using random NIC numbers or names. What’s more, since the service doesn’t prevent a single IP from accessing it over and over, you could have a robot do this for weeks or months and pull down hundreds of thousands or millions of records. Whoever does this would essentially be replicating NADRA’s database, minus the biometrics. Not good.

I think the Central Board of Revenue really needs to look at this immediately and add security features like Captcha, prevention of unlimited queries from a single address and paring down the information returned. The government is entrusted with citizen’s private information under a contract of trust. It should go to lengths to uphold its responsibilities.

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Netsol's responsible for security at a leading Pakistani mobile telecom company. Lock those PCs down!

We don’t quite know yet who the telco is, but if it was THE largest (mobilink), they would have probably said so. That leaves Telenor, Ufone, Warid and Zong. Your guess is as good as mine. But more important than identifying the customer here is the fact that NetSol appears to be diversifying into the security services business. This is an area that’s completely new for NetSol and we haven’t heard of any previous customer wins or product launches as far as security goes. So why are they diversifying into an area that’s seemingly irrelevant to any part of their past business focus? Is it part of a growth strategy or a move away from the core leasing business that hasn’t been doing all that well?

We’ve recently pointed out that while NetSol’s NASDAQ traded stock, NTWK, has made a modest recovery from the low of 25c up to close to a $1 now, it is still way off the $3.50 peak and the $2.50-$3.00 range it was trading in for two plus years. We just hope that the move into security isn’t an expression of lack of faith on the part of the NetSol management in the leasing and financial services markets the company has built its core business around.

More from the source after the fold.

NetSol Technologies, Inc., a provider of global business services and enterprise application solutions, has reportedly signed a major information security contract with one of the leading mobile telecommunications companies in Pakistan. This contract, according to a press release, further strengthens NetSol’s position in the information security services sector in Pakistan.
…

NetSol officials said the company was chosen after a rigorous selection amongst competitive vendors. As part of the contract, NetSol’s Information Security team has agreed to ensure the provisioning of hardware and software, lead the design and implementation, as well as train appropriate staff.

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Here's what the world's first PC virus - made in Pakistan - did to your boot sector.

Here’s a piece of trivia for you. Do you know who wrote the very first virus for PCs? (Not anti-virus, but virus) It was a group of Pakistanis. Much of the credit is given to Amjad and Basit Alvi, but those who were connected to the duo say it was actually Ashar Nisar, their friend from UET, who actually wrote it. Anyway, whichever one from amongst these three erstwhile friends did the deed, the bottom line is that it was undoubtedly Pakistanis. The first PC virus was perpetuated via the boot sector and was named the Brain virus. It didn’t do anything particularly violent; just propagated itself ad-infinitum.

So, we’ve come full circle now and the vicious virus/anti-virus cycle we Pakistanis started, we are now trying to address once and for all. That’s where Karachi based company IT Solutions comes in with their “Instant Virus Killer” anti-virus product. Frankly, the marketing material is pretty weak and I haven’t tested the product since they don’t provide a free download. The claims made are pretty incredible, so without any further proof or explanation of how these miraculous feats are accomplished, I have to stop short of an endorsement and take things with a healthy dose of skepticism.They basically talk about fixing everything from data corruption in Office documents, to ‘NTLDR missing’ bootup issues to virus cleaning and spyware prevention… quite a list.

Here’s a summary slide from their product presentation that lists their application’s capabilities:

But will it dust my booksehelves and toast my waffles?

Is there anyone out there who has tried to use this product? Any indication of how well it works? We’ll share the news for now, but reserve our opinion on its efficacy and reliability until we see/learn more.

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Pakistan has developed the Babur road, sea and submarine mobile nuclear cruise missile. Mr. Arquilla's hypothesis assumes all these assets are centrally controlled and would go offline in the event of a cyber attack. Faulty assumption.

John Arquilla, writing for Wired magazine in its November 2009 issue, argues for a US cyber attack on Pakistan and India in the event that the US determines the two countries are heading towards a confrontation. The method of attack outlined by Mr. Arquilla involves US cyber warfare units ‘taking out’ command and control networks on both sides.

In its arrogance and almost stereotypical inability to comprehend the competence and capabilities of other nations, this preposterous notion advocated by Mr. Arquilla made me laugh out loud. And awkwardly so, since I was on a plane when I first read this story. In addition to contributing poppycock in print, Mr. Arquilla also becomes guilty of the pain I felt in my sides once I was done ROTFL‘ing! But truthfully, one would expect nothing less of an advisor to Mr. Rumsfeld, a man who will be remembered in due course as the worst SecDef the United States has ever had.

Let’s think about everything that’s wrong with this less-than-stellar hypothesis:

1. Mr. Arquilla assumes that command and control systems on both sides are Internet connected and/or not shielded against EMP and similar cyber warfare instruments. Of course. Why would he? After all what do these backward South Asians know about cyber warfare, software, electronics or the complex beast that it is the Internet! Enroll them all in Microsoft Office 101 classes, I say!

2. Apparently, by taking out command and control Mr. Arquilla believes that the conflict would be ‘put on ice’. The most likely scenario would be that the cyber attack – even a partially succesful one – would cause either or both sides to believe that the ‘war had begun’ forcing them to take appropriate measures. Which might include actually starting a war.

3. What Mr. Arquilla is obviously unaware of is that Pakistan, and to a lesser extent, India, have sophisticated, road, sub, sea and air mobile nuclear missiles that would remain active in the event of command and control going down. In fact it is likely that independent authorization would go to the battlefield commander in the event that he was unable to reach central command.

4. A cyber attack on a nation’s critical military infrastructure, first and foremost, an act of war. Mr Arquilla is arguing that the US violate the un charter and attack one or two other countries to prevent what it – in its own opinion – considers an imminent outbreak of hostilities. While I can understand that international law and the UN charter might not be on Mr. Arquilla’s list of priorities – God knows they haven’t been on his governments in the past 8 years – the consequences of attacking another nation when your own intel assessment might be flawed is a potential serious hazard. But perhaps Arquilla would contend that US intelligence estimates are never flawed. I mean it’s not like the world remembers the whole WMD fiasco that took place when his boss, Mr. Rumsfeld, was in office.

It would be good if Mr. Arquilla would devote his free time and strategic talents to architect options for the US military to get out of the ruddy mess it was placed in by the Bush regime, in both Iraq and Afghanistan. This might be a far more productive use of his cerebral muscles  instead of campaigning for cyber war with allied states. If he has been reading the news, he would know that President Obama, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, just rejected all 6 options on the table for Afghanistan.

Time to stop dreaming ridiculous dreams, Mr. Arquilla, and get working on that 7th option! South Asia doesn’t need your “help” and strategic talents, but your own country most definitely does!

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This is a 20 year old picture of Ashar Nisar. About the only one on the Internet you can actually find. Talk about being reclusive...

PKNIC controls domain registrations for all .pk domains. You would expect it to be owned by the Government, or at least by a Pakistani company based in Pakistan. Not so. It’s actually managed and owned by a US-based company run by Ashar Nisar, a Pakistani- American. Up until very recently, there were no .PK root servers inside Pakistan, much to the angst of the PTA, local ISPs and the Ministries of S&T, and IT. The potential problems that could result from this dependence on a non-local root server were not just limited to the inconvenience and slow registration, which anyone who has registered a .pk domain can attest to. More seriously, in the event of an authority or ISP outside Pakistan deciding that they wanted to cause mayhem, all .pk sites could potentially cease to resolve bringing .pk hosts – and a big part of the internet in Pakistan - to a grinding halt.

DAWN now reports that the Government, working through the PTA, has somehow managed to convince the reclusive owner of PKNIC to open an office in Lahore and deploy a mirrored root server (m-2.pknic.net.pk) in what once used to be his hometown. DAWN’s source confirms:

The root server mirroring for .pk domain was fully operational in Pakistan, the sources said, adding that the server was successfully implemented and had been tested with all global root servers.

The PTA also claims to have had a long association with the transition project and says it had been working for successful transition of .pk domain to Pakistan.

By the way, for those who remember the early, early days of the internet in Pakistan, you may be familiar with ImranNET. This was a UUCP based email service started by two brothers, Imran and Usman Anwar, back in the early 90s. The third partner in the project who is usually less remembered, was Ashar Nisar – the owner of PKNIC. Apparently, not everything worked out between the three and they parted ways, but Ashar kept his exclusive ownership of the .PK TLD through PKNIC and continues to do so, two decades later. Something to be said for being a the right place at the right time!

You can read the original DAWN article here.

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