IN an encouraging development, the government has success fully tested ‘Beep Pakistan’ a communication app to be used by federal officials and employees. Shaza Fatima Khwaja, Minister of State for Information Technology and Telecommunication, said that the application was currently undergoing trial runs within her ministry and would be launched “soon” among other government departments. The Minister said Pakistan has developed an application focused on secure and unified communication among government officials. The purpose of Beep Pakistan is to protect our privacy and data, she added.
The information technology has penetrated into all walks of life and both the government and the private sectors are embracing digitization in a wholesome manner. The Federal as well as provincial governments are making significant moves towards a paperless system and use of information technology to promote good governance and facilitate citizens. However, it is also a fact that presently the whole society including the public sector is depending entirely on foreign apps and social media platforms to communicate with each other. Ministries and departments as well as individual officials have formed WhatsApp groups to exchange information, posting serious threats to the secrecy of such communication. Such concerns assumed urgency after reports emerged in December 2019 at least two dozen senior officials were targeted by Pegasus, a spyware developed by the Israeli cyber-security firm NSO. In this backdrop, the development of the app is important as it would help ensure data privacy and protection in government communications. Initially, it would be meant for use by the government departments but according to the Minister the design of the application is robust enough to offer it to the general public at a later stage. We hope that the app will be launched after ensuring its security features are foolproof and an effective system is in place to ensure its success.
