PTA and Huawei jointly hosted a half-day workshop on Next Generation Cyber Resilience in Islamabad on 12 August 2025, with the Federal Minister for IT and Telecom as the chief guest. The session brought together stakeholders from government bodies, regulators, private organizations, and international experts to address emerging cyber challenges linked to advanced technologies such as 5G, satellite internet, and artificial intelligence, including large language models. Presentations highlighted strategies to safeguard systems and data across different sectors, with SBP sharing measures being implemented to protect citizens against financial fraud. Participants appreciated the insights from international speakers, whose contributions added significant value to the discussions.
During the workshop, PTA presented its Annual Cybersecurity Report 2024-25, outlining major achievements over the past year. Key milestones included the rollout of CTDISR-2025, an updated Anti-DDoS strategy, new IXP regulations, a VPN licensing regime, and the development of an application to automate the third-party audit process for greater transparency. PTA reported notable improvements in key metrics, with DNSSEC validation rising from 20% to 85%, vulnerability scanning and risk mitigation scores increasing from 8.4/10 to 8.8/10, third-party audits growing by 50%, and IXP inclusion improving by over 70%. The national Telecom Security Operations Centre (nTSOC) and national Telecom Computer Emergency Response Team (nTCERT) played a critical role during the April-May cyber conflict, ensuring no major incidents occurred in the telecom sector. nTSOC continues to lead as the only integrated SOC of SOCs at the national level, with more than 36 telecom operators connected to it. PTA confirmed that all objectives set for 2024-25 under the Pakistan Telecom Cybersecurity Strategy 2023-28 were successfully met.
Looking ahead, PTA’s goals for the coming year include the implementation of a Zero-Trust Security Model across the telecom sector, further enhancing DNSSEC validation to over 90%, raising the vulnerability scanning score to 9.5/10, increasing third-party audits by another 50%, and addressing all identified gaps from audits. A new version of the Cybersecurity Framework, based on CTDISR-2025, is also planned for rollout. The Annual Cybersecurity Report was distributed to attendees and will soon be available on PTA’s website for broader access.
Acknowledging the collaborative effort behind these accomplishments, PTA expressed gratitude to telecom operators, MoIT, and public and private sector partners for their support. The authority reaffirmed its commitment to continuous improvement in cybersecurity practices and invited suggestions from stakeholders to further strengthen the resilience of Pakistan’s digital ecosystem.
Source: LinkedIn
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