CYBER SECURITY THREAT AND PAKISTAN’S PREPAREDNESS: AN ANALYSIS OF NATIONAL CYBER SECURITY POLICY 2021

Abstract

The objective of this research is to evaluate Pakistan’s existing national
cyber security policy in order to understand its context, effectiveness and
readiness to deter cyber security challenges. As the world has become
intensively connected and digitized through the internet or information
technology, securing cyber space has become the biggest challenge, and has
exposed the world to the existence of a novel, global threat. Since the threat
to cyber security has no geographical boundaries and is beyond the traditional
understanding of security, it is considered to be a paradigm shift in the area of
security. The seriousness and enormity attached to cyber threats intrigued us
into investigating the status of Pakistan in securing its cyber space and to
analyse the National Cyber Security Policy (NCSP) that was developed by the
government of Pakistan in 2021 to combat cyber threats from within and
outside the country. Cyber security threats and Pakistan’s preparedness for
them have also been analyzed in this research. This qualitative study intends
to employ a qualitative technique for the collection of data, i.e., policy
documentary analysis, to investigate the nature of cyber security policy.