Need of effective cybersecurity governance in Pakistan stressed

Islamabad : Speaking at the webinar on ‘Cyber Security Threats and Pakistan’s Response’ panellists warned that the ungoverned rapid digitisation in the country is a threat to important government and private organisations.

The webinar was organised by organised by Institute of Regional Studies here Friday.

The panellists observed that heavy reliance on imported hardware is increasingly compromising the security of sensitive information since Pakistan is lagging in the field of manufacturing IT types of equipment. They also called for the inclusion of cybersecurity subjects in textbooks for a better understanding of the data threats.

The panel discussed in detail the existing capacity of Pakistan’s information technology to deal with the looming security challenges to banking and finance, health and education, national database, defence and nuclear technology.

While highlighting the emerging threats Sehrish Mujtaba, a leading cybersecurity professional, said that the economic disruption in digital currency is going to be a huge problem in the coming days. Cyberbullying and cyber harassments are also increasing in the country at an alarming rate, she added.

Umar Sheraz, the futurist, innovative policy analyst told the audience that we can have better anticipation of threats by early identification and classification of problems. There is a need to develop Pakistan’s national threat perception mechanism that can serve as an early warning system.

Arzak Khan, internet governance and cybersecurity expert, was of the view that Pakistani diaspora can greatly help improve cyber governance in Pakistan since many Pakistanis are working in globally renowned software organisations. Private companies do have a critical role in building strong IT infrastructure, the only need is to provide them conducive environment, he added.

While concluding the session, Imran Sardar from IRS said that the situation is alarming since Pakistan is surrounded by a hostile country that is leading in software technology. India has launched disinformation warfare against Pakistan which the EUdisinfo Lab, a European NGO, has exposed in its report “Indian Chronicles.” Nevertheless, Pakistan has lots of potentials to cope with cyber challenges, the only need is to channelize the expertise of IT professionals working in Pakistan and abroad, he concluded.