Drafting policy guidelines: Cyber security bill presented in Senate
The mover of the bill termed the cyber threat as one of the major non-military threats the country is facing.
ISLAMABAD:
The Cyber Security Council Bill 2014 was tabled in the Senate on Monday. The bill was presented by PML-Q Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, seeking establishment of a National Cyber Security Council. The bill defines the functions and powers of the council that is meant to develop and draft policy guidelines and governance models related to ever emerging cyber security threat. The mover of the bill termed the cyber threat as one of the major non-military threats the country is facing. “Given the clear and present danger to Pakistan’s national security related to cyber warfare, as demonstrated by revelations of intrusion into privacy and spying by overseas intelligence networks, it is imperative that Pakistan takes institutional steps to combat this threat,” Senator Mushahid said expressing objectives of the bill.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 15th, 2014.
Pakistan's developing and progressing technology needs require the complete Cyber security, it is commendable and needs serious actions for implementation. Cyber is the future warfare that will hit the nuclear, intelligence, military and economic installations. Government should prefer the security national security and national interests.
The new battlefield of cyberspace involves tactics more detrimental than traditional warfare and poses a huge threat for Pakistan. As if sea, land and air warfare have not been enough, arch rivals or states are now involving each other in a new mode of war known as cyber warfare. Enemies of Pakistan are adopting more complex tactics like information gathering and equipment disruption.It is not possible to eliminate cyber crime from the cyber space in its entirety. However, it is quite possible to check it. Any legislation in its entirety might be less successful in totally eliminating crime from the globe. The primary step is to make people aware of their rights and duties (to report crime as a collective duty towards the society) and further making the application of the laws more stringent to check crime. For Pakistan it is the dire need of time to make and execute policies regarding cyber crime so that no other state can get access to the sensitive sites of Pakistan through cyber espionage.
This is an initiative which should be taken earlier in Pakistan. The whole world is fighting with this new kind of war which is called cyberspace warfare. It is an intangible mode of fighting which can be done without shedding single drop of blood. However, it poses an indirect but lethal threat to the whole structure of statehood. The revelation of NSA made the whole world to counter the spying with the aid of information technology. States within their confined sovereign territory are not protected with these cyber threats which can reach the very systems of national security interests. Pakistan really work on cyber security issue with pragmatic approach in order to save its state from cyber dangers.
The new battlefield of cyberspace involves tactics more detrimental than traditional warfare and poses a huge threat for Pakistan. As if sea, land and air warfare have not been enough, arch rivals or states are now involving each other in a new mode of war known as cyber warfare. Enemies of Pakistan are adopting more complex tactics like information gathering and equipment disruption.It is not possible to eliminate cyber crime from the cyber space in its entirety. However, it is quite possible to check it. Any legislation in its entirety might be less successful in totally eliminating crime from the globe. The primary step is to make people aware of their rights and duties (to report crime as a collective duty towards the society) and further making the application of the laws more stringent to check crime. For Pakistan it is the dire need of time to make and execute policies regarding cyber crime so that no other state can get access to the sensitive sites of Pakistan through cyber espionage.
It is very important for Pakistan to develop a cyber security plan. The complex binary code matrix has been used to steal secret data of many nations. The state sponsored cyber hackers in our neighborhood is real threat and Pakistan should developed a strategy to deal with such issues.