s Pakistan strengthens its national security architecture to confront evolving threats, one area demands urgent and uncompromising attention: the unchecked use of illegal and unregistered virtual private networks (VPNs). VPNs were originally conceived as tools to protect users from online surveillance and ensure digital privacy. Their abuse has turned them into one of the most powerful enablers of terrorism, cybercrime, social manipulation and cross-border sabotage. For Pakistan, such use of illegal VPNs is no longer a peripheral digital issue—it is a national security challenge shaping the landscape of hybrid warfare, political destabilisation and social vulnerability.

Over the past few years, several terrorist outfits such as the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, the Islamic State Khorasan Province and various Baloch separatist groups have used illegal VPNs as their digital armour. The virtual invisibility gives them the freedom to manipulate social media platforms, escape identification, hide their real-time locations and orchestrate propaganda networks targeting Pakistani audiences. The severity of this threat became evident when the social platform X introduced a location-reveal feature. The newly introduced transparency exposed numerous accounts promoting anti-Pakistan narratives, revealing that many of those were operated from India and Afghanistan while impersonating local users. Investigations further indicated that several accounts bore links to communication networks backed by Research and Analysis Wing. The purpose was unmistakable: to maintain a digital presence in Pakistan while shielding the operators across the border behind a false IP identity.

Illegal VPNs allow these networks to do much more than spread propaganda. They have become crucial in coordinating logistics, sharing operational blueprints and managing communication channels between handlers and operatives. Encrypted forums on the dark web, digital manuals for explosives, virtual training videos and tactical updates flow through these VPN-masked systems. This creates operational corridors that Pakistani intelligence agencies cannot fully monitor, giving terrorists an unprecedented level of cross-border operational security.

The financial dimension of illegal VPN use is equally concerning. Pakistan’s counter-terror financing mechanisms are designed to intercept suspicious digital transactions and track the flow of money from foreign handlers to local cells. However, when extremists operate behind illegal VPNs, they can disguise the origins of digital transfers, access crypto-exchanges, operate online wallets and use remittance apps without exposing their real locations. This anonymised infrastructure enables terror groups to maintain covert funding pipelines that bypass anti-money-laundering systems and enhance their operational depth.

Beyond terrorism, illegal VPNs have exposed Pakistan’s digital borders to harmful online ecosystems that exploit social vulnerabilities, especially among the youth. With national internet filters bypassed, Pakistani users—including the youth—gain unregulated access to violent content, adult-only websites, online gambling networks, fake news hubs and extremist messaging channels. These platforms are not only psychologically damaging but also serve as recruitment conduits for hostile actors seeking to radicalise impressionable minds. The result is a weakening of Pakistan’s social safeguards, family structures and protections—without leaving a trace.

Illegal VPNs allow these networks to do much more than spread propaganda. They have become crucial in coordinating logistics, sharing operational blueprints and managing communication channels between handlers and operatives.

The rise of cybercrime is another critical consequence of unchecked VPN usage. The criminals rely on VPN anonymity to engage in hacking attempts, identity theft, blackmail, ransom-ware attacks, fraudulent schemes and harassment campaigns. Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies frequently report that VPN masking makes it significantly harder to trace digital footprint, identify culprits and build prosecutable cases. As a result, cybercriminals operate with a margin of safety that should not exist in a secure digital environment.

The threat includes the political arena, where information warfare has become a defining weapon. Illegal VPNs allow external actors—sometimes state-sponsored—to interfere in Pakistan’s political discourse by creating anonymous social media campaigns, launching misinformation waves, amplifying polarising narratives and engineering artificial trends. Such manipulation seeks to shape public opinion, undermine state institutions and destabilise political cohesion. Many of these networks operate from abroad but use local digital identities through VPNs, creating the illusion of grassroots agitation within Pakistan.

In the economic ecosystem, illegal VPNs can inflict systematic damage. They are sometimes used to evade taxes, illegally access geo-restricted markets, bypass financial regulations and participate in digital piracy. For Pakistan’s emerging IT and e-commerce sectors, such actions distort competition, harms local businesses and erodes national revenue. At a time when Pakistan is attempting to digitalise governance and expand IT exports, the absence of control over illegal VPN channels can undermine economic progress.

From the perspective of state security, the most dangerous consequence of illegal VPN use is the creation of cyber blind spots. Unmonitored VPN traffic allows malicious software, phishing networks and foreign cyber intrusions to slip past national firewalls undetected. Hackers, whether criminal or state-sponsored, exploit these pathways to infiltrate government servers, target corporate systems, plant spyware or disrupt critical digital infrastructure. A single compromised pathway can jeopardise financial networks, surveillance systems or national command-and-control structures.

Illegal VPNs weaken Pakistan’s governance and regulatory oversight. When users are able to conceal their digital tracks and operate beyond the nation’s security net, the state loses its ability to enforce internet rules, monitor compliance or maintain trust in its digital systems. This erosion of regulatory authority is what hostile states hope to achieve in the hybrid warfare.

The cumulative effect of these vulnerabilities demands a decisive response. Pakistan must urgently implement a strong national framework that ensures only registered and authorised VPNs operate within its borders. This includes mandatory VPN registration, close monitoring of cross-border traffic, strict enforcement against illegal providers and advanced detection systems driven by artificial intelligence. Strengthening cooperation among the PTA, the FIA, the NACTA, various intelligence agencies and financial monitoring units is equally important. Public awareness is also essential—citizens must understand that VPNs are not harmless tools of convenience but potential gateways to national harm.

The author works for The News. He can be contacted at [email protected]