# Firewall and Pakistan

# Firewall and Pakistan

 

 

You must have heard of the **Great Firewall of China** that in China its citizens are not completely free to use the Internet. Using social media and the internet there is not as easy and free as in the rest of the world. In 1994, when the use of the Internet became common in China, the then Communist Party used the Internet to criticize the government, meaning that the government faced criticism and negative propaganda and the government faced problems. Now to manage this, the communist government had to control the flow of information, for which technology experts sat down and internet service companies suggested the solution to install some filters on the flow of internet traffic. These were the first-generation firewalls. 

**What is a firewall**

"A firewall is essentially a piece of programming or hardware that blocks or allows traffic to and from an association considering a lot of rules."

 

In China, from 1998 to 2006, the first phase was when firewalls were installed on the Internet in the country, and the second phase was completed by 2013. This firewall is not a simple, commonly used firewall, but one of the most important things it uses is "Deep Packet Inspection (DPI). First, you need to know how information flows on the Internet. 

**What is the packet?**

Information is exchanged on the Internet in the form of packets, which are a type of envelope that contains two objects. One is the **Packet Header**, and the other is the **Packet Payload**; the former contains the address, protocol, port, and security information of the sender and receiver. The rest of the payload contains the actual message or information sent. Usually, only the header of the packet is checked in the filter or firewall, and it is processed according to the traffic rules; this is called shallow packet  inspection." What is inside the message is not checked, but in the case of DPI, the actual message of the packet is also checked. Now it is a separate discussion that this inspection does not take into account the privacy of users. 

For deep packet inspection, special software and hardware are installed in the devices of Internet Service Providers (**ISPs). The purpose of DPI is to improve the quality of Internet traffic by inspecting it, detecting malware, and detecting non-state actors. 

 

Privacy and Packet Inspection:

Every country uses it to some degree and controls access to information for its citizens, which may have purposes ranging from national security to security but is not discussed here. 

A few days ago, the European Union presented a bill that would introduce a system to scan child abuse-related content, including scanning of highly secure communication system (**E2EE**) traffic. will go We are only discussing the technology used to control this flow of information over the Internet. 

You may also have heard of encryption; for example, WhatsApp uses **End to End Encryption** to encrypt information between chatters in such a way that no one but them can read it. The secure exchange of information over the Internet is made possible through encryption. Now this encrypted information is equally beneficial for privacy and hackers. Now security and government agencies need to access this encrypted information for which specific software is used. The stronger the encryption algorithm, the harder it is to crack, and the harder DPI can be, but not impossible. 

If we talk about modern encryption algorithms, DPI is now obsolete and is being replaced by **Encrypted Traffic Intelligence**, which has a lot of roles for artificial intelligence and machine learning. 

But till now this encryption of WhatsApp is considered to be very secure because the FBI has repeatedly requested the WhatsApp company Meta through the court to give access to the encrypted information, but WhatsApp has refused. 

The solution to such secure applications is to ban them and replace them with self-made apps that are easier to monitor, such as WeChat in China, YouTube, Instagram, and search engine alternatives. . 

This type of inspection can block access to internet trends, specific applications, and websites in any country. Any government or organization can monitor the internet activities of its citizens in their country. For this purpose, the public is locked in a fence by restricting access to certain websites with certain words, blocking the trending social media, and slowing down the application. 

**Firewall and VPN:**

Now this question comes to mind: can this firewall be avoided by using a VPN or not? 

{Answer is both yes and no.

According to popular media house Forbes, VPN usage in Pakistan has increased by 400% after the Twitter shutdown. When someone uses a VPN, all of their traffic goes to the VPN server in an encrypted state, and even if a firewall can't decrypt that traffic, it knows that the user is visiting a certain type of network., i.e., using a VPN. Then the ISP can also block that VPN or make it very slow if it wants. VPNs themselves also slow down the internet. 

In a country like ours, it is not possible to shut down WhatsApp or other social media apps for a long time because that company loses millions and millions of users. 

Finally, if I present a summary of all these things. 

The purpose of the firewall installed in Pakistan is to filter the content shared on the Internet in the country.

» Content against the government and institutions on social media is to be stopped.

Prevention of anti-state propaganda in view of national security

Blocking all websites and applications that promote a particular ideology or content that is against the national interest. 

Lastly, stay one step ahead of the public in what they are going to do next. Starting from the start of this current year 2024, there has been an expansion in the objective killing of writers in Pakistan, where 8 columnists have lost their lives up until this point. Four columnists were killed in the period of May alone, which, as per the Board to Safeguard Writers (CPJ), is the largest number of columnists killed in a solitary month beginning around 1992.

 

In an ideal world, such a miserable achievement ought to provoke strategy producers in the country to go to extraordinary lengths. Be that as it may, the subject of conversation in Pakistan isn't the manner by which to give security to the people who pass data on to individuals, yet here limitations are being forced on the wellsprings of data.

 

Here we are discussing the execution in Pakistan of a framework like China's 'Extraordinary Firewall' which will screen all internet-based traffic.

 

Insights about this firewall (boundaries to online data conveyance) are kept a mystery, and specialists are declining to comment with regards to this issue, and restricted information is being made accessible to general society. So the data with respect to the working of this framework is exceptionally low.

 

Advanced security master Fareeha Aziz expresses that because of mystery, there are ambiguous thoughts and hypotheses about the issue. "Taking everything into account, it's not precisely like the Chinese firewall, but rather something else," she tells Daybreak.

 

Erase dubious substances

 

As per numerous news reports, this firewall will utilize Profound Parcel Investigation (DPI) and IP-level obstructing. DPI can screen questionable substances through internet-based information bundles and will likewise follow the IP address of the shipper of such shocking substances when such satisfaction is found. This will assist the specialists with deciding where the disputable substance was made and dispersed.

 

With this innovation, the IP address of the maker of dubious substances can likewise be followed.

 

Yet, as per various nations, there will be an adjustment of the idea of the substance, which is thought of as dubious. For instance, in created social orders, such innovation is utilized to forestall serious wrongdoings like kid erotic entertainment. In Pakistan, this innovation is probably going to be utilized to smother 'against state feelings'.

 

"We need to trust that more data will emerge," says Fariha Aziz. However, this is sure: with this move, more restrictions will be applied to normal Pakistanis.

 

Strategy making and VPN utilization

 

Nobody was astonished by this most recent assault on basic freedoms in Pakistan. All things considered, we have a place with a country that has a long history of disregarding common liberties for the sake of 'public safety'.

 

In any case, the absence of information on our strategy producers with respect to the advanced world is amazing. The new restriction via online entertainment stage X is the best model.

 

In spite of the fact that admittance to X is limited in the country, numerous standard residents and practically all administration authorities are getting to it through Virtual Confidential Organizations (VPNs). This has plainly bombed the endeavors to boycott the virtual entertainment stage.

 

VPN utilization is expanding the nation over

 

The boycott has altogether expanded the matter of VPN specialist organizations globally. As per a Forbes report, the utilization of VPN administrations in Pakistan has expanded by in excess of 100% since the boycott, while certain reports have seen a 400 percent increment in the quantity of new VPN clients in Pakistan.

 

The heartbreaking part of such boycotts is that they are by and large upheld by the nation's top data innovation (IT) specialists.

 

Presently, take the case of Dr. Umar Saif, who has been the previous guardian serving for IT; he upheld the boycott of X at the public level in November 2022. Amusingly, Dr. Umar Saif's declaration of X's closure was made by a post on X in which he said that 'Twitter (X) is utilized by under 3.5% of Pakistan's clients and a large portion of the people who do. Savaging specific ideological groups is utilized'.

 

Break limitations

 

Broadcast writer Faisal Chaudhry, who covers hostility, routinely utilizes a VPN to get to restricted sites.

 

Alluding to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), he concurred that the firewall project was logically pointed toward focusing on specific ideological group laborers. "Advocates against basic freedom abominations; for example, implemented vanishings will fall under this firewall," he told Sunrise. Nonetheless, they accept that VPN clients will get to prohibited content regardless of all limitations.

 

Data conveyance can be captured and observed by firewalls.

 

To get their interpretation of the matter, Daybreak reached three conspicuous VPN specialist organizations.

 

NordVPN let us know that the viability of such firewalls is conflicting, and they call it 'hit and miss'. An ExpressVPN representative underlined the continuous endeavors to guarantee client admittance to inventive and free web. Proton VPN answered that assuming a firewall is constructed, it will further develop its administrations in like manner.

 

We needn't bother with being IT specialists to grasp the importance of these assertions. Paid VPN administrations appear not entirely set in stone to beat any conceivable catastrophe for control so that clients' web-based experience isn't frustrated.

 

Addressing Daybreak, ExpressVPN affirmed that their administrations are additionally utilized in China. This likewise brings up issues about the adequacy of firewalls and the acquisition of such innovation.

 

As per a report by Technopedia, a main computerized innovation stage, the quantity of VPN clients in China has seen a sharp increment of over 90% starting around 2022. The report said that VPNs have been generally effective in "crossing the incomparable firewall of China,"  which is like the kind of innovation that is being guessed to be executed in Pakistan.

 

Dangers to opportunity of articulation

 

Assuming we have proof of how VPNs avoided the Chinese firewall, for what reason are Pakistani specialists actually putting resources into such innovation?

 

Faisal Chaudhry says that 'opportunity of articulation has generally been a steady issue for the decision powers in Pakistan despite the fact that it is a necessary piece of any creating society'. They accept that the firewall plan is important for the public authority's endeavors to smother disagreeing voices.

 

Pakistan's state-run administrations have consistently disapproved of the opportunity of articulation.

 

"Despite the fact that it is too soon to say how powerful this firewall will be, I figure clients will break it," he adds. Pakistan's thoughtful society has a long history of opposing limitations on opportunity of articulation.

 

Opportunity of articulation has forever been a trouble spot for the strong in Pakistan, while common society pioneers appear to oppose it. The furthest down the line choice to screen the Web all the while assuming a pretense of public safety will prompt one more back-and-forth between the state and common society.

 

Such activities will additionally subvert public trust in the public authority.

 

All of this makes one wonder why the state is moving in a circle where, rather than dedicating its energy to making a move for them, it is making clashes with the subjects.

 

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