Overview
Pakistan’s market for cybersecurity equipment and services is at a developing stage and needs investment and technical expertise. With more than 100 million internet subscribers in both public and private sectors, the local market offers substantial business opportunities for the U.S. companies, as there exists a marginal presence of local and foreign companies having expertise in offering reliable service packages for the domestic cybersecurity requirements. Like other markets, the cybersecurity threats in Pakistan include hacking, identity theft, cyber-bullying, cyberstalking, spoofing, financial frauds, digital piracy, viruses and worms, malicious software, IPR violations, money laundering, denial of service attacks, electronic terrorism, vandalism, and pornography. Given these threats and an increase in their magnitude during recent years, local public-sector institutions and private businesses are often explicitly vulnerable to such threats. Most local businesses prefer to operate in partnership with foreign principals in this sector. This partnership arrangement includes license rights for development and agent/distribution agreements, which helps foreign companies to get quick traction and deeper penetration into the local business channels and circles. By far, U.S. companies dominate the local market, followed by a presence from the United Kingdom and China.
With an overall uptick in the growth of the information technology sector and its penetration in this market, the Government of Pakistan has recently made concerted efforts to develop a regulatory framework. In this regard, the federal cabinet approved the National Cybersecurity Policy in 2021, which establishes a primary platform for developing strategies and drawing out punitive measures for offenses under this domain. In addition, under this policy, a cybersecurity governance policy committee has been constituted to spearhead the implementation of strategies, inter-governmental coordination, awareness campaigns, and gauging industry feedback. According to local industry experts, the objectives of this policy are comprehensive and holistically inclusive to address the dynamic nature of cybersecurity challenges and risks faced by the country. Some of the key aspects and features of this policy are as follows:
- Develop and establish a broad governance framework, that addresses the importance of critical information systems infrastructure.
- Promote data governance, data protection, and online privacy.
- Develop systems to enable broad-scale cybersecurity awareness.
- Establish an information assurance framework and emphasize national and global cooperation.
- Capacity building of key local stakeholders – public institutions, private sector, and academia.
In addition to this policy, a second layer of this cybersecurity regulatory framework is enforcement and punitive actions. In this regard, the cybercrime Wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has been mandated and tasked to introduce Cyber Patrolling Units (CPUs) to keep a round-the-clock check on local social media, including but not limited to trends promoted on such platforms. Apart from this policy, the “Prevention of Electronic Crime Act” (PECA) was enacted in 2016, which provides a legal platform and framework to prevent and prosecute a variety of cybercrime offenses.
Apart from the public sector initiatives, there are several private-sector-led initiatives, which include industry and academia partnerships to devise demand-driven training programs and courses on cybersecurity. The scope of these training and courses is wide as well as dynamic to cater to key aspects including application development, threat process analysis, assessment, traffic monitoring, and risk countermeasures.
Leading Sub-Sectors
The most promising sub-sectors for the U.S. Companies in the local cybersecurity sector for FY-2023 are:
- Network Infrastructure
- Computer network servers
- Firewalls
- Routers
- Firmware
- Data protection equipment
- Data storage equipment
- Software applications
- Online training/certification programs
Opportunities
The local market for cybersecurity equipment and solutions offers sizeable opportunities for American companies, that offer equipment, software solutions, technical expertise, and training services. Local industry experts are of the view that this sector would continue to exhibit strong growth potential in the coming four - five years.
Web Resources
Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication