Indispensible Need of National CERT in Pakistan

In this advanced era where science and technology have become quite advanced, it leave not be incorrect to state that technology has become an essential component of our life whether it is about communication, medication, or something else. Information technology has earned a great deal of popularity in every developed country of modern age and it can be witnessed everywhere from traffic signs to power stations, from air ticketing to shopping deals, etc. Hence, it can be said that technology has become a basic ingredient of every facilitation available to the world in this high tech era.
In Pakistan, online sale purchase and other types of online jobs are gaining huge popularity with the passing of time. Now people prefer to do online transactions via using their credit cards and bank accounts online facility. Similarly, the recently announced 3G and 4G technology will also give a boost to the use of information technology.

Nevertheless, it is thus unfortunate that whatever has been discovered that is practised against the humankind in one or other form. The worst is now information technology is also being utilized as a weapon against humanity. Applying information technology as an abysmal weapon, the confidential information of the countries is being stolen, which can be applied.

A long list of evidences related to cyber-attacks is present when it comes to Pakistan. For example, various fiscal, educational, and diplomatic institutions of Pakistan Government and Pakistan Army were attacked by Indian Government Backed Hackers, back in 2010. Apart from this, various attacks were being prepared to steal secret information of the country. Almost 50-100 cyber-attacks are reported on Pakistani sites. The news concerned to these cyber-attacks made by international offices is not veiled from anyone, especially when it arrives to steal information via any virus or American NSA's cyber surveillance.

Modern countries of the current era are focusing extensively on cyber war and establishing cyber security research centers for the ultimate prevention of the cyber-attacks. Apart from this, the establishment of computer emergency response units is also in progress. Both of these cyber security research centers and computer emergency response units are of outstanding importance for their nation. The authorities cannot only keep an eye on their country’s Banking sector, but can also communicate with other countries to inform them about new cyber-attacks via these computer emergency response units. Moreover, these units will also become able to send the information related to cyber-attacks to different institutions of the country, especially to the commercial data center to bring these attacks to an end. This is the reason, which is why the secret information about the government and the banking sector of the countries having their computer emergency response units, is quite safe as compare to others, who do not own such units. Moreover, with these units, the effective and efficient cyber-attacks prevention strategies can also be implemented on time.

Everyone is concerned about the information technology and its security. However, its importance in Pakistan is still quite questionable where no one pays attention to the news related to hacking of seven banks in a week. The story does not end here. As per recent estimates, four government websites are receiving cyber-attacks on a daily basis, but no prevention technique is being adopted to stop these attacks. The authorities must understand that by hacking their official websites, the hackers can access to internal network system by infecting administration with their malware which can steal and forward all the significant files from C&C servers. In case of banking sector, they can get access to important credentials, including bank accounts, email passwords, and credit card details. Thus, being aware of the importance of cyber warfare is quite essential for our government and officials, especially in the current age of advance technology.

To avoid these cyber-attacks, the government of Pakistan must focus on the establishment of a computer emergency response unit of high excellence. It has been estimated that till 2020, Pakistan will go one of the secured high tech countries only if the government will establish computer emergency response unit till 2015. With this approach, Pakistan will not only become eligible to safeguard its industry, but will also become capable of protecting other nations from unauthorized access.

Hence, the essential requirement of this advanced era is to have computer emergency response units to eliminate the menace of cyber warfare and to enjoy cyber security. The expectations from PML-N government is quite high that the way they disseminate the network of optical fiber in the country, they introduced 3G and 4G in Pakistan, they will certainly work on the effective and efficient organization of quality computer emergency response units in the nation.

About The Author

This article has been written by "Mansab Chaudry", Chaudry is the founder of a Security company called Refluxes and the lead author at Whogothacked.com, A news blog covering Ethical hacking and Security news. In his free time he actively contributes to RHA with topics related to Cyber Security.