Once this groundwork is laid, then putting in place technologies and procedures to support these become easier and more effective."Įthical hacker Rafay Baloch commented: "The major challenge pertaining to the policy is its implementation. People need to be informed of the risks that come with interconnected systems, and what their role is in ensuring security. Javvad Malik, the security awareness advocate at KnowBe4 said: "Security awareness is essential. The IT Minister Syed Aminul Haq said: "The IT ministry and all relevant public and private institutions will be provided all possible assistance and support to ensure that their data, services, ICT products and systems are in line with the requirements of cybersecurity." Alongside these reforms will be a higher level of information-sharing mechanisms and training to raise public awareness of the importance of cybersecurity.
The new policy will incorporate a new governance and institutional framework within a framework of computer emergency response teams working at security operations centres. The new policy aims to co-ordinate and support public and private institutions and protect Pakistan's critical infrastructure, which up to recently have had separate security operations. The announcement comes at a difficult time for the Pakistani government which has recently accused India of using the Israeli developed spyware, Pegasus, to spy on its Prime Minister Imran Khan. The South Asian nation is ranked 79th in the ITU's Global Cyber Security Index and has for many years lagged behind its major rivals in this crucial sector. KPCERC is accomplishing these by designing a KP Cybersecurity framework.The Pakistani government has announced a major overhaul of its cybersecurity systems according to the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority. KPCERC is mandated to ensure the health and quality of digital application and services & digital assets used, managed or deployed by the government departments across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Empowering the government departments of KP with technology support is fundamental by establishing and leading the Cybersecurity framework for the province along with establish Security Operation Centre (SoC) & Cyber Emergency Response Team (CERT) & guidelines for Cyber Emergency Incidence Response (CSIR). KP CERC aims to train skilled human resources, contribute towards empowering the government departments across KP along with industry by providing advisory in the cyber and information security area. To address provincial & national CyberSecurity challenges KPITB has established KPCERC, which aims to build capacity by leveraging expertise and skills in domains of cyber security. Most of the training programs are offered as higher education degree programs however there is a dire need to educate our young graduate with the rapidly evolving Cybersecurity body of knowledge. There has been number of training programs and degrees offered across Pakistan to address some of the aspects.
Trained human resource is the fundamental to address the challenges of cyber security. This Cyber Security framework shall not only ensure maximum security but shall also ensure maximum availability. As KP advances in to the digital era, the need for a level Cyber Security framework becomes crucial. Procurement of ICT based assets has been priority but now the security of the acquired assets along with the data generated or processed is equally important. Traditional information security techniques may work in isolation but with increased connectivity systems are exposed to increasing vulnerability. Increase in the use of communication technologies for connectivity, mobility and versatility exposure to the digital assets to cyber threats.
ICT acting as enabler, can result in improved governance, assistance and services as well as economic integration, improved living standards, narrow the digital divide, and improve government services utilization and management. Information is one of the basic and fundamental pillars of knowledge based economies and during the last decade there is exponential increase in nature and volume of information contained and processes by digital systems.