Lahore, Pakistan – November 11, 2025 — Information Technology University (ITU) today hosted a One-Day Symposium on “Securing the Future: Cybersecurity, AI, and Infrastructure Governance in Practice,” bringing together leaders from government, industry, and academia to discuss Pakistan’s rapidly evolving digital landscape.
The symposium featured expert sessions covering key areas of cybersecurity, AI governance, and digital trust. In his opening remarks, Vice Chancellor ITU, Prof. Dr. Adnan Noor Mian, emphasized the urgency of addressing cyber threats in Pakistan and the critical role of AI in both defending and challenging digital systems. He stated, “Cybersecurity is no longer just a technical challenge — building trust, accountability, and resilience must remain at the heart of our digital strategy.”
Mr. Ghulam Farid, Secretary Higher Education Department, was also present at the event who highlighted the importance of national collaboration in cybersecurity. “The world has experienced quantum leaps in the field of cyber security. Pakistan is catching up with the best practices of the world and it gives me immense pleasure that public sector institutions like ITU is helping the country catch up with the rest of the world,” he added.
Topics included Cybersecurity & Incident Response (Mr. Haroon Rasheed, Punjab CERT), Testing, Trust & Triage (Dr. Muhammad Hasan Islam, CMC), AI Safety & ISO 42001:2023 Governance (Mr. Khawaja Faisal Javaid, SGS Pakistan), Democratizing Cyber Resilience in the era of Agentic AI (Mr. Shaheryar Raza, Orzeh Technologies), Singapore’s Trusted Digital Signatures Model (Mr. Wahaj Khan, Codegic), Safe Cities Infrastructure (Dr. Yasir Niaz Khan, Punjab Safe Cities Authority), Cybersecurity & Governance (Mr. Sajjad Ghani, PITB), AI in DevOps & Governance (Dr. Javed Zahoor, Virtual Force Inc.), and AI Strategies for Modern SOC (Mr. Muhammad Faheem Akhtar, Technogenics).
The panelist discussed the urgent need for Computer Emergency Response teams (CERT) in every higher education institutes. They were of the opinion that University websites are very prone to cyber attacks and that all higher education institutions should have a cyber security audit on a yearly basis.
The event concluded with a shield distribution ceremony honoring the speakers and contributors for their efforts in advancing cybersecurity, AI governance, and digital resilience in Pakistan.
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