Federal cabinet gives nod to 'first digital Cloud Policy'

IT minister says the newly-approved policy is aimed at ensuring privacy of online data

Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haque on Tuesday announced the approval of the first digital Cloud Policy and Personal Data Protection Bill by the federal cabinet.

According to the minister, the newly-approved policy is aimed at ensuring the privacy of online data.

Haq further said that the bill will ensure privacy specially for citizens, public and private entities, while Cloud First policy will cover federal ministries, departments and autonomous entities.

Referring to the details of Cloud First policy, he said that the process of heavy spending and upgrading of various data centres of ministries and agencies is difficult for which it is necessary to have a common platform.

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The minister thanked Prime Minister Imran Khan and members of the cabinet for extending support for the approval of the policy and the bill, saying that the process would help Pakistan adapt to the digital world in terms of global requirements.

In July last year, the cabinet approved the first National Cyber Security Policy, with the primary focus on cyber security and cyber offences.

The policy was announced as the government prepared to launch a comprehensive investigation into the Pegasus spying scandal.

In this regard, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry was quoted as saying that a list of cyber security experts had been being prepared to conduct a thorough probe, especially India’s use of Israeli spyware to hack the phone of PM Imran.