ISLAMABAD (The Thursday Times) — Pakistan has recorded more than 1,000 cyberattacks so far in 2026, and the agency responsible for tracking them has 70 staff, its director general told a National Assembly committee this week.
Haider Abbas, who heads National CERT, told the Standing Committee on IT and Telecom that about 30% of its work now relies on AI agents, with the remaining 70% done by hand. Members asked whether using AI could itself create security risks. Abbas said Pakistan has a monitoring centre to identify and track threats.
Committee chairman Syed Amin ul Haq said hacking attempts rise around August 14 and September 6, and asked what was being done to stop attacks on those dates.
Abbas said the Information Security Framework Rules, approved in 2023, offer a way to assess how strong institutions’ defences are, and that every institution will face an annual cybersecurity audit. The IT secretary said each province had nominated departments to take responsibility for cybersecurity.
Lawmaker Musa Gilani said there were still weaknesses in how Pakistanis’ personal data is protected, and that it should stay inside the country. The director general of the Pakistan Digital Authority called for a dedicated data regulator and proper supervision of AI.
The same meeting heard that Pakistan ranks first in the world for YouTube viewing, while lawmakers complained about worsening networks.
