Govt moves to bolster national cyber security

Forms 10-member CERT council, with IT secretary as chairman

ISLAMABAD:

With the avowed aim to improve the national cyber security, the federal government has formed a ten-member Cyber Emergency Response Team (CERT) council.

According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Information Technology (IT) and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the federal secretary IT will serve as CERT council chairman. The CERT director general (DG) has been appointed as the council's secretary. The notification further states that CERT council has been formed under the CERT Rules 2023. It will initially comprise 10 members.

CERT also called PKCERT is a national initiative aimed at strengthening cyber security in Pakistan. CERT was established to counter the growing cyber threats and hacking attempts targeting various public sector entities.

The Ministry of IT on October 12, 2023 announced the formation of CERT, the country's first national cyber emergency response team. The development was aimed at keeping Pakistan's cyberspace safe from ever-emerging threats and hacking.

The primary objective of these CERT teams at both the national and sectoral levels is to enhance Pakistan's overall cyber security posture and resilience. CERTs are responsible for protecting against, detecting and responding to cyber security incidents, and will enhance the country's capacity to manage cyber security incidents.

The recently established CERT team is assigned to create a national framework that will manage responses to threats, assaults on vital infrastructure, information systems, data, or extensive breaches of information systems throughout Pakistan, according to PKCERT website.