ISLAMABAD: The SECP cybersecurity center went live on Tuesday as the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan inaugurated its 24/7 Security Operations Centre to strengthen cybersecurity, detect digital threats and respond to potential attacks targeting its information systems.
The centre was inaugurated on October 20 by National Database and Registration Authority Chairman Lieutenant General Muhammad Munir Afsar. SECP Chairman Dr Kabir Ahmed Sidhu, commissioners Imtiaz Haider, Muzaffar Ahmed Mirza and Zeeshan Khattak, along with other senior officials, attended the ceremony.
The new facility will monitor the regulator’s networks, servers and cloud systems around the clock to identify cybersecurity threats and enable timely responses.
SECP cybersecurity center built with international support
According to the SECP, the project was completed in line with international standards with support from the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, in collaboration with Karandaaz Pakistan, Inara Technologies and REWTERZ.
In a separate meeting, SECP Chairman Sidhu briefed the NADRA chairman on the commission’s information technology reforms, infrastructure modernisation and use of artificial intelligence to improve the ease of doing business.
What a Security Operations Centre does
A Security Operations Centre, or SOC, is a centralised unit that continuously watches an organisation’s digital infrastructure for signs of attack, such as unusual login attempts, malware, data exfiltration or system intrusions, and coordinates the response. For a financial regulator like the SECP, which holds sensitive data on companies, brokers and investors, round-the-clock monitoring is becoming standard practice worldwide.
The launch signals that the SECP is treating cyber risk as a core regulatory function rather than an IT afterthought.
Plans for a sector-wide shield
The commission also plans to bring capital market institutions into a shared cybersecurity framework to improve coordination and strengthen the sector’s ability to respond to digital threats. Under the proposed arrangement, the SECP aims to play a more active role as a sectoral Computer Emergency Response Team, or CERT — a body that collects threat intelligence, issues alerts and coordinates incident response across an industry.
For investors and market intermediaries, a sectoral CERT would mean faster warnings about phishing campaigns, ransomware and system breaches affecting brokers or exchanges, and a single point of coordination when an attack hits. Pakistan’s capital markets have grown more digital in recent years, which has expanded the attack surface alongside the opportunity.
The new centre marks another step in the regulator’s efforts to protect its information assets and strengthen the security of the systems supporting its operations. It follows the SECP’s scrutiny of discrepancies in the SE Fruits IPO, another sign of a regulator tightening its oversight toolkit.
Frequently asked questions
What has the SECP launched?
A 24/7 Security Operations Centre that monitors the commission’s networks, servers and cloud systems for cyber threats, inaugurated on October 20 by the NADRA chairman.
Who supported the project?
The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with Karandaaz Pakistan, Inara Technologies and REWTERZ. It was built to international standards.
What is a sectoral CERT?
A Computer Emergency Response Team for a specific industry, in this case capital markets, that shares threat intelligence and coordinates responses to cyber incidents across institutions.
