Officials should not use private accounts to share information: Senate body

ISLAMABAD: Government officials were discouraged from using private email addresses to share sensitive information at a Senate committee meeting on Wednesday.

Senator Rubina Khalid, who chairs the Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications, said that “crucial and classified” government information “cannot be shared through Yahoo and Gmail accounts.”

The committee, which met to discuss cyber security, also observed that government websites are threatened every day. Senators said government officials must switch to using safer government email accounts.

Lack of awareness, resistance to change cause officials to use private email services, IT secretary says

The meeting observed that while the open access doctrine in cyberspace and the internet in particularly, which Pakistan also follows as a policy, offers several opportunities for growth, it also poses threats to the safety and security of any country’s critical infrastructure and information systems.

Committee members believed that existing and upcoming challenges caused by the abuse of cyberspace by unscrupulous state and non-state elements must be amicably addressed.

IT Secretary Maroof Afzal told senators that all government departments have been asked to switch to official accounts, and all government officials can use official emails ending with .gov.pk.

“However, there is lack of awareness about sharing critical information. Worse, there is resistance to change. Despite being asked to send and share information through secure government accounts, many officers continue to use private Yahoo and Gmail services,” Mr Afzal told the committee.

Senator Khalid, however, took issue with the ‘behavioural change’ argument, saying: “Government officers are highly placed and educated officers and the cream of intelligence, selected through a stringent competitive process. Why do they not realise that cyber-security is an issue?”

Mr Afzal in response assured the committee that government departments will be reminded of the urgency and importance of switching to a safer information sharing platform provided by the government, and the committee’s concerns would be conveyed to them as well.

He said he would also take up the matter with the prime minister’s focal person on this subject.

While there are currently no rules in place for how government officials should share sensitive information, the Ministry of IT told the committee that the country’s first Cyber Governance Policy is being made in consultation with stakeholders.

The policy aims to realise the potential of information and communication technologies for socioeconomic development by assuring the availability, confidentiality and integrity of critical infrastructures and information systems and to provide reliable, secured and resilient cyberspace for all, senators were told.

Members were informed that a draft of the Cyber Security Framework has also been shared by law enforcement organisations.