ISLAMABAD, May 24: A project to enhance information security and check cyber crimes is in the pipeline and for this purpose the ministry would subsidize a training programme besides paying the certification cost related to the training.

This was stated by the Minister for Information and Technology Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari while speaking at the concluding session of a 'Conference on Information Security and Cyber Crimes.'

The conference was organized by the National Response Centre for Cyber Crimes (NR3C), a wing of the FIA, here on Monday. The primary objective of the NR3C was the gathering of information on threats to the critical infrastructure.

Though building awareness around information security issues was of particular importance, enhancing the skills and expertise of individuals engaged in providing IT security services was also of critical importance, the minister said.

"The challenge of ensuring security of information is not just during its transmission, but also during its generation, its usage and its storage is such that it cannot be handled by one organization alone," he said.

He encouraged the National Response Centre for Cyber Crimes (NR3C) to work actively with other organizations such as the National Telecommuni-cations Corporation NTC, other specialized agencies of the IT ministry, as well as the private companies, to achieve better results.

"It is only when we all work together and will be able to make a significant difference in the security of electronic information that is now the life blood of our economy," he emphasized.

He called for addressing the issue of information security and cyber crimes at a professional level given the rapid developments taking place in Pakistan in the fields of telecommunications and information technology and the pace with which value-added services were being rolled out by the financial services sector.

He informed the gathering that his ministry was negotiating with the State Bank of Pakistan, to formulate policies and guidelines that could be enforced and more critically, audited for compliance before permission was granted to commercial banks to carry out financial transactions over the internet.

"It is the responsibility of the government and its regulatory bodies that such guidelines and policies are formulated in consultation with the interested stakeholders, and that these are subsequently monitored strictly to ensure compliance," he said.

The minister urged the International System Security Association, the Information Systems Audit and Control Association, and their associated Pakistani chapters, and other such departments to lend their support to the ministry in the formulation of policies and regulations.

The IT ministry was committed to ensuring that "we work together with experts on cyber security to ensure that the results are of benefit not just to the IT industry but also to the end-users who make use of information technology".