Rival Espionage Actors Converge on Pakistani Law Enforcement
Thursday, July 9th, 2026
One Target, Two Flags - Rival Espionage Actors Converge On Pakistani Law Enforcement
SentinelLABS has been tracking sustained cyberespionage activity against several Pakistani law enforcement organizations, taking place from February 2024 to April 2026.
All these actors converged on Balochistan Police over this period, bringing both a partner and an adversary of Pakistan to the same police force in a province shaped by a separatist insurgency and the regional tensions it has drawn in.
At Balochistan Police, the compromised assets included servers hosting web applications that manage police and citizen data, such as criminal and biometric records.
A suspected China-nexus actor planted implants in one of the web applications, which serves both police staff and citizens, weaponizing a tool of Pakistan’s police digitalization against its users.
Pakistani law enforcement organizations attract cyber collection because they hold information on Pakistan’s internal security that regional powers have an incentive to pursue.
For China, the likely primary concern is the safety of its nationals, the target of repeated deadly attacks Pakistan has failed to prevent, leading Beijing to assess that threat for itself rather than rely on its partner alone.
For India, the strongest motive is probably its rivalry with Pakistan, with Balochistan Police offering insight into the security posture of a Pakistani province prominent in wider mutual accusations over cross-border support for militancy.