By Zulfiqar Ali Malik
THE CYBER Secure Pakistan 2012, a Conference geared at spreading awareness relating to cyber security issues in Pakistan, was one of its kind event in the country where people from all walks of life associated with the cyber world actively participated.
From bloggers to developers, authorities to personalities, hackers to victims, all kinds of internet users attended the conferences and the active participation was seen throughout a full day event.
The event was arranged and organized by PISA and UltraSpectra. The sponsors included Google, TRANCHULAS, NIMIS, CCUREIT, MovingMinds, KasperSky, Interactive Group and National ICT, R and D Fund.
Wahaj us Siraj, CEO of Nayatel (Pvt.) Ltd formally started the proceedings. In his opening remarks, Ammar Jaffery, President of PISA (Pakistan Information Security Association), excellently explained the history of CSP, its need and importance. He drew the attention of the listeners and made them realize the importance of this conference in Pakistan.
Iftikhar Ahmad, the former Federal Secretary and IGP, discussed about being secure in cyber space. He emphasized the need for proper legislation for cyber crimes in Pakistan.
His speech was followed by the address of Wahaj us Siraj, CEO of Nayatel (Pvt.) Ltd. He stressed the need for regulatory and policy framework for cyber laws and telecom industry.
Chief guest Tanvir Ahmad, Additional DG FIA, assured his complete support and guaranteed again and again that wherever his services or assistance is needed in this regard, he will make sure his presence and support, which was much appreciated by the audience and it was the conclusion of the starting session of the conference.
Later, the discussion session, moderated by Zahid Jamil and Barrister at Law Jamil and Jamil started. A panel discussion on the topic of Cyber Crimes Legislations – The way Forward. The panel included Badar Khushnood – Consultant, Google Pakistan to present the International Perspective. NR3C presented the Governments Perspective. Muhammad Ali Khwaja, Senior Information Security Officer, ZTBL, presented the industrial perspective and members of civil society to present the perspective of the society.
After the panel discussion on Cyber Crimes Legislations – The way Forward, Badar Khushnood spoke on Top 10 things Google does for security”.
It was followed by the speech of CEO, Trilliom InfoSec Systems, Mahir Mohsin on the topic of Combating APTs. Amir Jamil – Cheif Information Security officer, Interactive Group, spoke on think before you click in which he tried to create awareness among the audience about secure browsing.
Zeeshan Shafquat, Hamad Dar, Shashca Team and bloggers like Syed Moazzam Ali were also present in the meetup. Hasan Raza told the bloggers about the importance of security and how their blog almost got hacked and how they recovered it.
Followed by the delicious lunch, another panel discussion was initiated regarding Threats to Critical Infrastructure”. It was moderated by Nahil Mehmood, Founder/Chief Architect, DeltaTech. The panel included Brig. Ashraf Mehmood – Dean MSC, Ammar Jaffri – President PISA, Ameen Shareef, Adnan Shahid – Chief Idea Officer, Ideogeny and Dr. Saad Naeem Zafar, Dean Faculty of Computing, Riphah International University.
Closing remarks and vote of thanks was delivered by Nazir Baid, Chapter Leader Karachi, PISA.
Overall it was a great event by UltraSpectra and PISA. All the speakers, visitors, bloggers and attendants were highly motivated. According to Mr. ZunNurain Khalid from UltraSpectra, they are planning to organize same kind of conference in Karachi in near future. After the final tea, plaque distribution and catwalk by CSP Models on the stage, Movie Die Hard-4 was also screened on the occasion.
Zulfiqar Ali Malik is the founder of Live at Campus, an online platform for students to write and share their creativities.