Cyberattack hits CDA online billing system

ISLAMABAD: A cyberattack has disrupted online billings of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), resulting in the breakdown of the online payment system for property tax, conservancy charges, water bills, and other civic amenities for three days.

The cyberattack on the online system of CDA comes at a sensitive juncture when citizens were to pay their property tax and municipal charges by June, as the financial year will end.

According to the details, the citizens have failed to make any payment through the CDA’s online billing system; however, its website is still functional online.

CDA officials informed that the revenue department officials and members of the National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC), along with the IT Department of the CDA, are trying hard to retrieve the lost system and data, reports said.

Previously, there were rumors that neither CDA nor its vendor had maintained any record of backup of the previous six months of any kind.

However, the CDA Spokesperson Shahid Kiani, while rejecting all those rumors, said that backup data is safe, but all data related to billings is being recovered from its backup system.

We are recovering all the billing-related data of the CDA from its backup data to make the same operational again, and our team is working 24 hours to resolve the issue, Kiani added. The official also said that any payment made through 1-Link and its partnered banks was secure from cyberattack.

The online system of the CDA enables citizens to make their property tax, water bill, and other charges payments through 1-Link integrated banking channels.