ISLAMABAD - President Dr Arif Alvi while highlighting the importance of cyber security said that amid the global challenges of cyber-attacks, it was important for Pakistan to build national capabilities in cyber security to protect its important systems and data as cyber-attacks could affect the nation’s infrastructure and damage its economy.
The President was addressing the inaugural session of the 2nd annual International Conference of Cyber Warfare and Security.
He said preparing indigenous professionals and solutions was vital to reduce the risk of cyber-attacks, particularly against the country’s defence, energy and financial infrastructures. The two-day event, organized by National Centre of Cyber Security, Air University, discussed ways to strengthen cyber security and neutralize advanced threats.
President Alvi said the attainment of strong capacity in cyber security was significant for both defensive and offensive strategies as the world witnessed rapid technological advancement. He said a national vision of a secure and robust digital ecosystem would lead the country to socio-economic development.
He mentioned that cyberspace had recently attracted the attention of many developed and developing countries with reports of government websites being hacked and sensitive data stolen by foreign groups.
He said with quantum computers coming to the future, it would become highly difficult to secure data for a country unless production of its indigenous hardware and software.
To create cyber security awareness, he said, there was a dire need for Pakistan to produce graduates and human resources capable of handling the challenges of cyber security.
The president, who inaugurated on the occasion the National Cyber Security Academy, lauded the efforts of the Pakistan Air Force to emerge as an effectively ubiquitous and highly responsive cyber force.
Besides defence, Dr Alvi said, it was high time for Pakistan to secure its boundaries from all sorts of cyber-attacks in domains including politics, industry and culture.
PAF Director General C4I Air Vice Marshal Abbas Ghumman outlined the priorities of PAF in collaboration with academia on ensuring cyber defence.
He mentioned in this regard the initiatives including artificial intelligence, strengthening of the aerospace industry to gain self-reliance, malware detection, hardware and software evaluation, the establishment of PAF’s first cyber security park and full operationalization of the PAF’s cyber command by March.
Vice Chancellor Air University Air Marshal (retd) Javaid Ahmed said for PAF, the timely realization of cyber security amid top threats of national security had gained momentum.
The Chief Security Officer of Huawei Pakistan said as cyber security became fundamental to business, Huawei was building a cooperative digital ecosystem in 170 countries with a comprehensive global security system.
