Govt bans personal email accounts for official use

Circular cites data security, national security risks

ISLAMABAD:

The federal government has imposed a blanket ban on the use of private and personal email accounts for official correspondence across all public sector institutions, including the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), in a move aimed at strengthening data security and protecting sensitive state information.

A formal circular has been issued in this regard, referring to an earlier directive of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT).

The notification instructs all government departments to immediately discontinue the use of non-official email services for any form of official communication.

According to the MoITT letter cited in the circular, several government officers and institutions were still using private email platforms such as Hotmail, Yahoo and Gmail to exchange official documents.

The ministry warned that this practice posed a "serious threat" to national security, data confidentiality and information integrity.

The letter further noted that the National Telecommunication and Information Technology Security Board (NTISB) has repeatedly cautioned that private email servers are not part of the government's secure digital infrastructure and remain highly vulnerable to cyberattacks, data leaks and unauthorised access.

The circular clearly states that all official correspondence - particularly formal documents, reports and inter-departmental communications - must be carried out exclusively through registered government email addresses. All administrative secretaries and heads of departments have been directed to ensure strict compliance with the new instructions and to immediately disseminate the directive to their subordinate offices.

The government has also warned that any security breach resulting from communication through unauthorised or private email platforms will be the responsibility of the concerned officer or institution.