Daily Times

Imagine a scenario, that a war has broken out between Pakistan and its adversary, however, the government keeps functioning, the private sector doesn’t aggressively shut down, lines of communication with the outside world remain intact. The media can provide coverage without any connectivity problems. All of this seems far fetched, because in case of a war, among the first to be targeted by the enemy is the communication infrastructure. However, by ensuring protection of digital Infrastructures and making it a national security objective, Pakistan can attain a level of war preparedness where it will be able to function while protecting and maintaining its lines of communication.

We can draw lessons from the war in Ukraine, how a country can protect its digital infrastructure, with the collaboration of public, private entities along with civil society to create an ecosystem that can cater to communication needs in case of an aggression. The critical role that internet has played in ensuring the continuity of government and preserving the sovereignty of Ukraine has dubbed the war ‘The First Networked War’. We need to acknowledge that the government, military, private sector firms, digital advocacy organizations all are stake holders in this process. Thereafter a joint consensus needs to be developed to address the full spectrum of threats posed in digital arena.

The first area of this cooperation would be Data. The government should develop a policy with all the political stakeholders on board to ensure that public data is protected and accessible during the time of a conflict. This can be done with the help of ICT companies which can enable the government to move the data to secure hardware storages away from potential conflict zones. Moreover another measure that can be taken is the development of ‘Data embassies’ in allied nations and saving critical data on cloud in these nations. Mutual cooperation agreements, treaties may be signed in this regard. The idea has been implemented in 2017, when Estonia feared a Russian invasion it signed such an agreement with Luxembourg.

The second area where it would be critical to collaborate is connectivity. When the internet infrastructure in Ukraine was compromised due to Russian invasion, United States, Poland and France partially funded the deployment of Space X star link terminals to Ukraine, to ensure internet connectivity for the Ukrainian government and people. Connectivity will serve as the backbone for ensuring continuity of government and business. In order to ensure connectivity we must engage private sector companies, in allied nations to develop alternate connectivity infrastructure which may be based on satellite constellation terminals, hard to detect high frequency lasers along with a software program to orchestrate these networks across the country along with a decentralized wireless network preferably powered by 5G. Digital Advocacy organizations and civil society may also be trained to access and use such a network in case of war to remain connected.

The third area is E-governance. As the Russian forces attacked, Ukraine shifted most of its services online via their app Diia. The application allows the citizens and government servants to access a wide range of government services and data. Pakistan already has government applications like Prime Minister’s citizens portal, maybe such platforms may be expanded or replicated to include government services like passports, taxes, NADRA services and banking. The concept is not only useful in case of war, but if also implemented in peacetime, may contribute to efficient and better governance. This may be easily achieved by public private partnership, especially if backed by academia (university level) research and development.

The fourth area where Pakistan needs to focus is cyber security. Although there is a significant work being done by Pakistani government, military and the private sector in the field of cyber security, however there remains lack of collaboration between the public and private organizations to achieve better levels of cyber security. If this collaboration gap is addressed both can come up with better cyber security measures to protect our digital sovereignty. Moreover, the government must also share cyber security guidelines, which can be termed as expectations and SOPs in case of threats and escalation to protect their sensitive data.

The fifth area is information. Pakistan still does not have a playbook to effectively challenge misinformation or disinformation. Some measures in this regard are already in place. These include official verified government accounts serving as authentic sources of information, however, the propaganda by our adversaries that circulates is not being effectively checked. Certain activists based online do counter these narratives, however, there needs to exist a comprehensive fact checking online infrastructure that could challenge disinformation. A collaboration with the Civil society organizations NGOs can establish a network of fact checkers that would actively engage such information online and debunk fake news. Third party fact checking entities exist globally, however in Pakistan well-reputed civil society members may be engaged to collaborate with the government to preserve the integrity of information online and filter out fake misleading information. These civil society organizations may also engage in awareness drives across the country to educate the masses on identifying and deconstructing false information.

Proactive policy making and implementation of such a plan to preserve and protect the digital sovereignty of Pakistan needs to be done. Government, military, private ICT companies, and civil society organizations must come together to develop an action plan. With the implementation of such forward looking policies Pakistan will be in a better position to not only to defend but to make its case across the globe in case of a conflict. During a conflict communication will define how the world sees us. We must not let weaknesses in our digital communications be exploited by the adversary to control the narrative against us. Protection of our digital infrastructure is critical to meet our national security objectives.

The writer is a Digital Communications specialist, with special focus on policy,
communications, and security. He Tweets @haiderwrites10