PECA covers all cyber offences, says FIA’s ex-DG

SUKKUR: Former Federal Investigation Agency director general Dr Sanaullah Abbasi delivered on Wednesday a lecture on cybersecurity to the students at the Institute of Business Administration in Sukkur.

Talking to The News, Abbasi said that he spoke about the National Response Centre for Cyber Crimes (NR3C), which was established in August 2007 as a pilot project, and then its five circles were created in Rawalpindi, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta. He added that the project’s second phase kicked off in 2012, with a focus on increasing manpower and forensic capability of the NR3C.

He said that later the federal government passed the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) in 2016 and then the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Investigation (PECI) Rules in 2018. Under the PECI Rules, the Cyber Crime Wing (CCW) was established in the FIA as a specialized unit having the mandate to deal with complaints related to cybercrimes, he said, adding that the CCW has expertise in digital forensics, technical investigation, information system security audits, and cybercrime investigations.

The former FIA DG said that the PECA read from the Pakistan Penal Code of 1860, Telegraph Act of 1885 and Electronic Transaction Ordinance of 2002, becoming the first law in the country to deal with offences related to cyberspace. He added that the PECI Rules were incorporated in the Qanoon-e-Shahadat of 1984 to produce digital evidences in the court of law.

He said that the PECA provided detailed definitions of digital and technical terminologies, while covering all cyber related offences. He added that the law specifically dealt with cyber terrorism, electronic forgery and fraud, dignity of natural person, child pornography, spamming, spoofing and stalking. He said that it provided a mechanism for international cooperation in curbing cybercrime, stipulating formation of special courts to try cyber offences and establishment of a forensic laboratory.

He said that the federal govt was authorized to make new rules under the PECA to define the mandate and activities of CCW for investigation and prosecution of cybercrimes, handling of complaints related to online defamation, harassment, threats and blackmailing via social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter. He said that the law also covered the financial sector, dealing with complaints related to ATM skimmers, money exchange embezzlements, credit card and e-banking frauds.

He said that the law also provided a framework for cooperation with Facebook, WhatsApp, National Database Registration Authority, National Counter Terrorism Authority and Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan among other local and foreign institutions. He said that the vision behind these measures was to develop secure and resilient systems and networks for national cyber security covering the entire digital space in Pakistan to protect public and private sectors as well critical information infrastructures.