Govt approves 90-day cyber security action plan – Profit by Pakistan Today

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Monitoring Report

September 14, 2026

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The federal government has approved a 90-day Cyber Security Strategic Action Plan amid a heightened cyber threat environment, while directing provinces to accelerate the establishment of Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) and implementation of the Pakistan Information Security Framework (PISF) 2026, The Newsreported, citing official

The decision was taken at the second meeting of the National Committee for Information and Communications Security (NCICS), held at the Cabinet Division under the chairmanship of the secretary of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications, who also chairs the committee

The meeting stressed the need for immediate and practical measures to address growing cyber security threats. It was informed that PISF 2026 had already been approved and its implementation must now be ensured at both federal and provincial levels

The National Computer Emergency Response Team (nCERT), which heads the Cyber Security Working Committee, presented the strategic action plan, primarily setting out measures to be undertaken over the next 90 days

The plan covers governance, compliance, recurity assessment and supply chain security. nCERT has also prepared a National Cyber Security Handbook primarily for government officials

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority chairman stressed the need for careful planning in operationalising the Federal CERT, particularly in the absence of provincial and sectoral CERTs, to ensure relevant ministries and departments could be efficiently integrated

nCERT informed the meeting that a Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) approach would be adopted. Provincial and sectoral CERTs would operate under nCERT while directly interacting with their respective ministries and departments

Guidelines for operationalising provincial and sectoral CERTs have already been issued and will continue to be developed

During the meeting, Sindh’s representative raised questions over whether provinces would need to formulate separate rules and highlighted the potentially significant costs involved, particularly if additional data centres were required. He also referred to the Sindh government’s recent approval of a data centre for Sindh Intelligence Fusion

The committee was informed that requirements relating to data centres were covered by the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications’ Cloud First Policy. It was also told that PISF 2026 provided the necessary framework for federal and provincial entities, eliminating the need for provinces to formulate separate rules

Cyber security at Pakistan’s diplomatic missions abroad was separately examined because of its direct link with national security

The Sub-Committee for Cyber Security Aspects of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Missions briefed the committee on the existing cyber security landscape at diplomatic missions and measures recently taken to strengthen their security posture

The NCICS tasked the MoFA cyber security sub-committee with preparing an action plan based on a comprehensive framework and guidelines to strengthen cyber security arrangements at missions abroad

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