KARACHI: The government has proposed a ‘National Forensics and Cybercrime Agency (NFCA)’ to tackle cyber and digital crimes and investigations related to them amid ongoing efforts to change the country’s digital laws, Dawn.com reported.

The development comes amid ongoing efforts to reform the country’s cybercrime laws, according to the draft law. A day earlier, newly surfaced proposed changes to the country’s cybercrime laws specified that violations could result in seven-year prison terms, with fines hiked up to Rs2 million.

Meanwhile, the draft for the NFCA Act, 2024, said it would apply to the whole country and placed the proposed agency under the interior ministry in Islamabad, adding that it could set up its offices in other places in the country.

The draft explained that the NFCA comes as an upgrade to the existing National Forensic Science Authority from a project to a regular department that would act as a central coordinating agency for conventional, digital and cyber forensics across the country.

It defined cybercrime as criminal activities conducted over the internet or using digital technologies that involved the use of computers, networks and electronic devices to commit offences. “Main branches include cyber fraud, hacking, cyber espionage, terrorism, online harassment and cyberbullying, cyber extortion and cyber warfare etc,” the draft said.

The draft also defined deepfakes as audio, video, picture or any other form of fabricated digital media using artificial intelligence deep learning algorithms to impersonate or malign any real or imaginary person

It further said that the NFCA would be the “supreme agency providing intimate conventional, digital and cyber forensics support to Islamabad Capital Territory, AJK and GB as first-tier and to act as a second-tier reexamination agency for all forensics agencies/ labs in the country, including law enforcing agencies”.

It would also establish a law department to “ascertain weakness in the legal system affecting conventional, digital and cyber forensics and propose amendments in laws/devise new laws”.

Another main task of the agency wou­ld be to collect conventional, digital and cyber forensics material from crime sce­nes for examination and to provide opinions to the courts or other authorities.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2024