Government approves 90-day cyber security action plan amid heightened threats

The federal government has greenlit a 90-day Cyber Security Strategic Action Plan as cyber threats intensify, The News reported, citing official sources. Provinces have also been directed to speed up the creation of Computer Emergency Response Teams and the rollout of the Pakistan Information Security Framework 2026. That framework has already been approved, and officials said it now needs to be implemented at both federal and provincial levels.

The approval came at the second sitting of the National Committee for Information and Communications Security, convened at the Cabinet Division and chaired by the secretary of the federal IT ministry. The National Computer Emergency Response Team, known as nCERT, outlined measures for the coming 90 days covering oversight, conformity rules, how resources are matched to needs, handling of incidents and crises, security evaluations, and protection of supply chains. nCERT also prepared a handbook for officials, and provincial and sectoral CERTs will operate under nCERT through a managed security model.

Sindh's representative asked whether provinces must draft separate rules and warned about high costs, especially if extra data centres are needed. The committee was told that data centre requirements fall under the Cloud First Policy and that PISF 2026 provides the framework, making separate provincial rules unnecessary. The committee also reviewed cyber security at Pakistan's diplomatic missions abroad and asked a foreign ministry sub-committee to prepare an action plan.