Zero tolerance for cyber crimes sought

* Rs 3 billion project to automate public departments

ISLAMABAD: Speakers at the “Conference on Information Security and Cyber Crimes” on Monday demanded the enhancement of security systems for the timely control of cyber crimes, which have become rampant with the advancement of the information technology sector in Pakistan.

Federal Minister for Information Technology (IT) Awais Leghari on Monday asserted that his ministry was working on a project to train people on enhancing information security and check cyber crimes.

The conference was organised by the National Response Centre for Cyber Crimes (NR3C), a wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

In the three-session conference, the experts covered a wide range of issues related to policy and laws for information security and cyber crimes, technology for electronic-government and issues of information security and challenges of information security and cyber crimes in Pakistan. “We will encourage individuals to be trained on these issues and the ministry will also subsidise training programmes and pay for the certification costs,” the minister said in a keynote address during the last session of the conference.

The primary objective of the NR3C is to gather information on threats to critical infrastructure. It is the principal means of facilitating and coordinating the federal government’s response to an incident and monitoring websites to protect critical infrastructure. The conference discussed the issue of information security and cyber crimes at a professional level given the rapid developments taking place in Pakistan in the fields of telecommunications and information technology and the pace with which value-added services were being rolled out by the financial services sector.

The minister told the participants that he was negotiating with the State Bank of Pakistan to formulate policies and guidelines that would allow commercial banks to carry out financial transactions over the Internet.

“It is the responsibility of the government and its regulatory bodies to make sure that such guidelines and policies are formulated in consultation with the interested stakeholders and that these are subsequently monitored strictly to ensure compliance,” he said.

He stated that the International System Security Association, the Information Systems Audit and Control Association and their associated Pakistani chapters must support the IT Ministry’s attempt to formulate such policies and regulations.

The minister also highlighted the initiatives taken by the ministry to promote IT and the telecom sector against the backdrop of the auctioning of two mobile licenses.

Federal IT Secretary Khalid Saeed termed cyber security a major challenge of the information society, one that deserved more attention.

He termed the delivery of various services to the citizens a priority, saying the government would launch development projects worth over Rs 3 billion during the next few months to automate the National Assembly, Senate, FPSC and all federal ministries as well as linking them through a data centre.

Among other who addressed at the conference were Pakistan Software Export Board Managing Director Dr Amir Matin, FIA Director General Saiyed Mohib Asad and NR3C Project Director S Ammar Jaffri. staff report

Home | National