NACTA Sets Up Cyber Security Wing To Tackle Emerging Cyber Terrorism Threats

Islamabad, (Pakistan Point News - 13th May, 2018) : National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), to evolve cyber security strategies and to tackler the emerging cyber terrorism threats has established a Cyber Security Wing on modern lines. The Wing, called Cyber Security, Information and Communication Technology Wing (CS ICT), undertaken a number of initiative in cyber security service and most important of them was Tat'heer drive introduced to counter extremist ideologies.

According to NACTA, Tat'heer is a multi-pronged cyber counter terrorism strategy which includes napping of radical contents available on internet and social media. The drive helps in strategizing evidence-based counter-terrorism measures. The key components of Tat'heer drive include development of surfsafe reporting portal https://surfsafe.pk/. The admin portal of surfsafe is equipped with analytical review mechanism for reported contents.

Another initiative is Tat'heer Android and iOS Apps for mobile which had been developed with an objective to enable every citizen to report any hate speech or extremist contents (videos, audios, photos and texts) wherever they observe in their vicinity. The NACTA also launched social media e-campaign on facebook/twitter. The authority portal is nacta.gov.pk, surfsafe.pk and tat'heer app with an aim to ensure its presence on social media by making citizenry access to portals and mobile app to report any hate materials.

The authority has also transformed its previous websites with a state-of-the-art web-portal, hosted through the most secured means, with zero prevalence of chances for its hacking. It is a modern, responsive and interactive web portal which has capacity to engage with relevant stakeholders, both locally and internationally. The other initiative was National Action Plan (NAP) portal. The government mandated NACTA to view progress on implementation status of 20 points of NAP.

In order to undertake this task, the CSICT Wing has developed a web based application called NAP portal. NACTA has given access to the portal to each stakeholder of NAP who update progress on implementation status on regular basis. NAP portal has enabled all stakeholders to receive and collate these updates timely. Moreover, NACTA's Management Information System has been developed which is a comprehensive database for managing e-records with automation of records pertaining to administration, finance and human resources wings of NACTA. The system is based on the three modules: HR, Finance and inventory. Data of terrorists including updated status on red books (Most Wanted Terrorists) have been obtained from all provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), CT Wings and other agencies.