Call for dynamic laws to cope with cyberattack

Experts say Pakistan among 10 most targeted countries in the world

ISLAMABAD:

Over the years, Pakistan has survived numerous cyber-attacks from multiple state and non-state actors, hence dynamic policies and laws are needed to cope with the menace.

This was stated by Brig (retd) Mohammad Yasin, the Adviser Emeritus, Sustainable Development Policy Institute while initiating discussion at the 63rd Meeting of SDPI’s Study Group on Information Technology and Telecommunication (ICT).

Pakistan has such policies and laws which obviously cannot be static, and must be evolved to keep pace with the impending cyber threats and attacks, he said said.

Dr Muhammad Mukaram Khan, Director-General, Cyber Vigilance, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority said it’s time to act now to secure laws/policies for implementation. Warning about the threats, including cyber incidents in the industry, he stressed the need to identify data breaches. Pakistan is among the 10 most targeted countries in the world, so copyright and trademark offences need international legislative responses and countries' cooperation on cybercrime. Pakistan must ensure system security hardening, revision of PECA-2016 to PECA-2022 as well as social media roles with the help of establishing telecom operators approved by the PTA.

Prof Dr Haider Abbas, Military College Signals, University of Science and Technology, said that Pakistan lives in an era of cybersecurity, which requires fulfilling human expectations of the cybersecurity skills gap. Mentioning the lack of women's participation in the workforce to meet challenges in Pakistan, he said, these are inadequate for the prevention of crimes. “We need human resource capacity building, the inclusion of customized programmes, the establishment of centres and labs of excellence, startups, and public-private partnerships in terms of skill development.”

SDPI Executive Director Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri concluded that cyber security policy needs to take full ownership by the government for the implementation of national cyber security policies. Export potential mechanism strengthening of cyber security for the economic perspective encompasses defence. Internet of things devices need to be operated by software companies with joint partnerships with the internet of things (IoT) arena in Pakistan, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27^th, 2022.