In this address, Zafar Masud, Chairman of the Pakistan Banks Association, delivers the welcoming remarks at the closing ceremony of the PBA–SBP Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025. He begins by framing the event not just as a conclusion to a week-long exercise, but as a historic moment of collective pride for Pakistan’s financial sector. For the first time in the country’s history, the banking industry moved beyond individual silos to participate in a voluntary, proactive, and collaborative cyber drill that was not mandated by regulation or triggered by a specific security incident.
This initiative involved 37 entities, including 35 banks and key financial infrastructure providers like NIFT and 1Link, representing nearly the entire national financial ecosystem. Masud underscores the critical realization that cyber risk is a systemic concern rather than an institutional one, noting that a compromise in a single bank could shake public confidence in the entire financial system.
He explicitly clarifies the constructive nature of the drill, stating it was never intended to rank, name, shame, or penalize any individual institution. Instead, the primary objective was to establish a collective baseline for security and identify shared vulnerabilities. The drill utilized a sophisticated dual-track structure that tested both technical and managerial capabilities.
While technical teams focused on detection speed and response accuracy under simulated attacks, senior leadership—including risk, compliance, and communication heads—was placed in high-pressure environments to manage business continuity and reputational risks. Masud emphasizes that while technology can detect a threat, it is the leadership’s judgment and decision-making that ultimately determine the outcome of a crisis. This alignment between technical preparedness and executive leadership is presented as the cornerstone of true resilience.
A significant portion of the speech is dedicated to the human element of cybersecurity. Masud describes the global scarcity of skilled professionals as a “talent challenge” that is perhaps more pressing than technology itself. By conducting these drills, the industry creates a sense of national purpose and professional pride, which helps in nurturing and retaining domestic talent.
Furthermore, Masud addresses the operational relationship between banks and the State Bank of Pakistan, calling for a culture of mutual respect and empathy at the operational level to match the strong cooperation seen among senior leadership. He also identifies a critical vulnerability in vendor management, observing that past cyber incidents revealed one-sided contracts that left banks unable to claim damages despite vendor lapses. To remedy this, he proposes that the PBA develop a standardized boilerplate for technology contracts to ensure fairer terms and greater accountability from third-party providers.
Concluding his remarks, Masud stresses that this cyber drill is a foundation for the future rather than a final destination. He urges the industry to abandon isolationism in favor of an inclusive, integrated approach to security. Given the increasing speed and sophistication of cyber threats, he expresses a strong commitment to making these drills a regular occurrence, ensuring that the Pakistani financial sector remains agile and collectively prepared to defend the nation’s economic stability.
PBA–SBP Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025
In an era where financial warfare is increasingly waged through bits and bytes rather than traditional means, the resilience of a nation’s banking sector is synonymous with its national security. In early 2025, Pakistan’s financial sector reached a pivotal milestone with the conclusion of the PBA–SBP Industry Wide Cyber Drill. This week-long exercise represented a paradigm shift in how the country protects its wealth, moving from isolated institutional defenses toward a philosophy of “collective resilience.”
See also: PBA Facebook Page
The Genesis: Who Organized the Event?
The drill was the result of a high-level collaboration between the two most influential bodies in the Pakistani financial landscape:
- The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP): As the primary regulator, the SBP provided the strategic oversight and authority. The event was attended and championed by the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, who served as the Chief Guest at the closing ceremony, signaling the regulator’s commitment to shifting from a “policing” role to a “capability-building” partner.
- The Pakistan Banks Association (PBA): Representing the interests of the industry, the PBA, led by its Chairman Zafar Masud, spearheaded the execution of the drill. The association acted as the bridge between the regulator’s requirements and the banks’ operational realities.
The Objective: Why a “Cyber Drill”?
Unlike many regulatory exercises, the 2025 Cyber Drill was notable for what it was not. As emphasized by Chairman Zafar Masud, the event was not driven by a recent breach or a punitive regulatory mandate. Instead, it was born out of foresight.
The primary goals were:
- To Raise the Collective Baseline: Ensuring that all banks, regardless of size, meet a minimum standard of preparedness.
- Gap Identification without Penalty: The drill was designed to be a “safe space.” It was not about “naming and shaming” or ranking banks, but about identifying common industry-wide vulnerabilities.
- Testing Systemic Resilience: The industry recognized that if one bank’s security is compromised, public confidence in the entire system is shaken. Therefore, the defense had to be unified.
Scale and Participation: Who Was There?
The event saw unprecedented participation, effectively encompassing the entire financial ecosystem of Pakistan. A total of 37 entities took part in the week-long exercise, including:
- 35 Commercial and Microfinance Banks: Covering almost the entire banking population of the country.
- National Institutional Facilitation Technologies (NIFT): The primary provider of clearing services.
- 1Link: The backbone of Pakistan’s ATM and payment switching network.
Looking ahead, the organizers expressed a desire to include Raast (the SBP’s instant payment system) in future iterations to ensure 100% coverage of the digital payment infrastructure.
The Methodology: A Dual-Track Approach
The 2025 Drill was sophisticated in its design, acknowledging that a cyber crisis is never just an “IT problem.” It was split into two simultaneous tracks:
1. The Technical Track (The “Engine Room”)
Technical teams and Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) were subjected to realistic, simulated cyberattack scenarios. This track tested:
- Detection Accuracy: How quickly could teams spot a sophisticated intrusion?
- Response Speed: The effectiveness of isolation protocols to prevent the “lateral movement” of a virus or hacker within the network.
- Recovery Capabilities: Testing the integrity of backups and the time required to restore essential services.
2. The Management Track (The “Boardroom”)
Simultaneously, senior leadership teams—including Chief Risk Officers (CROs), Chief Compliance Officers (CCOs), and heads of Communications—were placed in a “war room” environment. They had to manage the “blast radius” of the simulated attack, including:
- Regulatory Coordination: How and when to report the incident to the SBP.
- Customer Communication: Crafting transparent yet calm messaging to prevent a “bank run.”
- Media and Reputational Risk: Managing the narrative in the face of social media speculation.
- Business Continuity: Making hard decisions on whether to shut down certain services to protect the broader network.
Critical Takeaways: Talent and Vendors
The closing ceremony served as a moment of reflection on two critical systemic issues identified during the exercise:
The Talent Challenge
Zafar Masud highlighted a “real peril” in the industry: the global scarcity of cybersecurity professionals. He argued that drills like this are essential for talent retention. By involving young professionals in high-stakes, nationally significant exercises, the industry builds a sense of “national purpose” and “professional pride,” which helps combat the “brain drain” of skilled IT professionals moving abroad.
The Vendor “Boilerplate”
A significant revelation from recent real-world incidents and the drill was the vulnerability of third-party vendor agreements. Many banks found themselves at a disadvantage because their contracts with technology vendors were “one-sided,” leaving the banks to bear the full cost of a vendor’s security lapse.
- The Solution: The PBA announced plans to draft an industry-wide standardized boilerplate agreement. This ensures that technology vendors are held to a higher standard of accountability and that banks have fair legal recourse in the event of a breach.
Achievements: What Did the Drill Accomplish?
By the end of the week, the PBA–SBP Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 achieved several “firsts”:
- Voluntary Integration: It proved that the banking industry could move past its competitive nature to collaborate on security.
- Cultural Shift: It shifted the perception of cybersecurity from a “cost center” to a “strategic foundation.”
- Enhanced Operational Respect: The drill fostered a new level of empathy and mutual respect between the operational teams at the SBP and the various private banks.
- Preparedness Audit: It provided every participating bank with a clear “roadmap” of their own strengths and weaknesses without the fear of immediate fines.
Conclusion: The Road Ahead
The 2025 Cyber Drill was not a one-off event but the start of a new tradition. As Zafar Masud concluded in his remarks, “Cyber drill is not the destination; it’s the foundation.”
As threats continue to evolve in speed and scale, the Pakistan Banks Association and the State Bank of Pakistan have committed to making these drills a regular feature of the financial calendar. The event successfully sent a clear message to both internal stakeholders and external threats: Pakistan’s financial sector is no longer a collection of isolated targets, but a unified, resilient, and proactive digital fortress.
The Dawn of Collective Defense: A Comprehensive Analysis of the PBA–SBP Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025
In the modern digital age, the battlefield has shifted. Wars are no longer fought solely over land or resources but over data, access, and the integrity of financial systems. For the banking sector, the threat is existential. A single breach in a connected ecosystem can cascade into a systemic failure, eroding public trust and destabilizing national economies. It is against this backdrop of escalating digital warfare that Pakistan’s financial sector took a historic step forward. The Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025, a joint initiative by the Pakistan Banks’ Association (PBA) and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), marked a watershed moment in the nation’s cybersecurity posture.
This article offers an exhaustive examination of the Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025, exploring its origins, execution, outcomes, and the profound strategic shifts it represents for Pakistan’s financial landscape.
Part I: The Strategic Imperative
The Global Cyber Threat Landscape
To understand the significance of the Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025, one must first appreciate the environment in which it was conceived. The global financial sector faces a “polycrisis” of cyber threats. Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) has lowered the barrier to entry for criminals, while state-sponsored actors increasingly view financial infrastructure as a legitimate target. In this hyper-connected reality, the traditional “castle-and-moat” security model—where each bank defends its own perimeter—is obsolete.
Pakistan, as an emerging digital economy with a rapidly growing fintech sector, is not immune. The digitization of payments, spearheaded by initiatives like Raast, has brought millions into the formal economy but has also expanded the attack surface. The Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 was the industry’s proactive answer to these challenges, signaling a move from reactive firefighting to proactive, collective defense.
Read more: Cyber crime: Role of regulators and government
A Historic Collaboration: PBA and SBP
The Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 was not merely a technical exercise; it was a feat of institutional diplomacy. It brought together two entities that have historically operated on opposite sides of the compliance table: the regulator and the regulated.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), led by Governor Jameel Ahmad, provided the regulatory weight and strategic vision. Under his leadership, the SBP has been pivoting from a purely supervisory role to one of enablement and partnership. The Governor’s presence as the Chief Guest at the closing ceremony underscored the regulator’s commitment to “capability building” over mere “compliance checking.”
On the other side was the Pakistan Banks’ Association (PBA), representing the industry’s collective interests. Chairman Zafar Masud played a pivotal role in rallying the banks, advocating for a drill that was “voluntary, collaborative, and proactive.” Masud’s vision for the Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 was clear: it was to be a safe harbor for learning, devoid of the fear of penalties or reputational damage. This alignment between the PBA and SBP was the critical success factor, allowing the industry to mobilize resources on a scale never before seen in Pakistan’s history.
Part II: Anatomy of the Drill
Scope and Scale
The sheer scale of the Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 sets it apart from any previous exercises in the region. Held over a week in January 2026, the drill involved 37 distinct entities. This included 35 commercial and microfinance banks, effectively covering the entire banking population of the country.
Crucially, the drill also included the “plumbing” of Pakistan’s financial system: NIFT (National Institutional Facilitation Technologies) and 1Link. These entities are the backbone of clearing and switching services; a compromise in either would bring the entire ATM and interbank transfer network to a halt. Their participation in the Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 demonstrated an understanding of “supply chain risk”—the idea that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
The Dual-Track Methodology
One of the most innovative aspects of the Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 was its dual-track structure. The organizers recognized that a cyber crisis manifests in two distinct but interconnected spheres: the technical and the managerial.
1. The Technical Track: The Digital Frontline
In the technical track, the “Blue Teams” (defenders) of participating banks were pitted against simulated “Red Teams” (attackers). This was a test of raw technical capability. The Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 simulated sophisticated attack vectors, including:
- Ransomware Outbreaks: Teams had to detect encryption activities in real-time and isolate infected systems before the malware could spread laterally across the network.
- DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service): Testing the resilience of digital channels against overwhelming traffic designed to take banking apps offline.
- Data Exfiltration: Identifying subtle signs of data being siphoned off to external servers.
The metric for success here was not just “stopping” the attack, but the speed of detection and the accuracy of the response. The Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 exposed technical teams to the kind of pressure that cannot be replicated in a classroom.
2. The Management Track: The War Room
While the tech teams fought in the code, the C-suite fought in the boardroom. The Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 placed senior leadership—Chief Risk Officers (CROs), Chief Compliance Officers (CCOs), and Heads of Corporate Communications—into realistic decision-making scenarios.
Cybersecurity is often erroneously viewed as an IT problem. However, the fallout of a breach is almost entirely a business and reputational problem. During the drill, executives had to answer critical questions:
- Do we pay the ransom?
- When do we inform the State Bank?
- How do we tell our customers that their data might be compromised without causing a panic?
- Do we shut down the mobile app to contain the spread, knowing it will disrupt millions of transactions?
By forcing these decisions in a simulated environment, the Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 helped build “muscle memory” at the executive level. As Zafar Masud noted in his remarks, “Technology may detect incidents, but leadership determines outcomes.”
Part III: Key Insights and Challenges
The Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 was not designed to be a victory lap; it was a diagnostic tool. It revealed several critical areas where the Pakistani financial sector needs to mature.
The Talent Challenge
Perhaps the most poignant insight to emerge from the Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 was the human dimension of cybersecurity. The industry is facing a severe shortage of skilled professionals. The demand for ethical hackers, SOC (Security Operations Center) analysts, and forensic experts far outstrips supply globally, and Pakistan is no exception.
Zafar Masud identified this as a “talent challenge” that is more pressing than the technology challenge. The drill highlighted the need for the industry to invest in its people. Masud argued that exercises like the Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 serve a dual purpose: they train staff, but they also inspire them. By engaging young professionals in a drill of national significance, the industry fosters a sense of purpose and patriotism. This “national relevance” is a powerful tool for retention in an era where skilled workers can easily find employment abroad.
The Vendor Dilemma
A structural vulnerability exposed by the Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 was the banking sector’s reliance on third-party vendors. In recent years, several cyber incidents in Pakistan were traced back not to the banks themselves, but to the software and hardware vendors they rely on.
The drill revealed that many banks are operating under “one-sided” contracts. When a vendor’s software fails or introduces a vulnerability, the bank is often left holding the bag—both financially and reputationally. The contracts frequently lack sufficient penalty clauses or liability frameworks.
In response to this finding from the Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025, the PBA has proposed a radical solution: a standardized industry “boilerplate” for vendor agreements. By negotiating as a collective bloc, the banking industry can force vendors to accept fairer terms, ensuring they have “skin in the game” regarding security. This move would not only protect individual banks but would raise the quality assurance standards for all technology providers operating in Pakistan.
Operational Empathy
A softer, yet equally vital, outcome of the Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 was the fostering of “operational empathy.” Historically, the relationship between bank operations teams and SBP inspection teams has been hierarchical and sometimes adversarial. The drill required these teams to sit together, problem-solve together, and “bleed” together in simulated trenches.
This collaboration broke down silos. It allowed the regulators to see the practical constraints faced by banks, and it allowed the banks to understand the systemic concerns of the regulator. This shift in culture—from “policing” to “partnership”—is arguably the most sustainable legacy of the Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025.
Part IV: The Future of Cyber Resilience
“Cyber Shield 2025-30”
The Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 is not an isolated event; it is the launchpad for a broader strategic vision. During the event proceedings, SBP Governor Jameel Ahmad alluded to the upcoming “Cyber Shield 2025-30” strategy.
This five-year roadmap aims to institutionalize the lessons learned from the drill. It envisions a financial ecosystem where threat intelligence is shared in real-time. Currently, if Bank A is attacked, Bank B might not know about the new malware signature until it is too late. The Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 demonstrated the value of a “Collective Cyber Defense Center” (CCDC), where anonymized threat data can be pooled and analyzed for the benefit of all.
Continuous Evolution
The cyber threat landscape is dynamic; therefore, the defense must be dynamic. The organizers have committed to making the Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 the first of a regular series. Future iterations are expected to be even more complex.
Zafar Masud hinted at expanding the scope to include “Raast,” Pakistan’s instant payment system. Integrating Raast into the next drill would be a logical step, given its increasing centrality to the retail economy. Furthermore, future drills might involve cross-border simulations or joint exercises with telecom providers, acknowledging that mobile banking relies heavily on cellular infrastructure.
The “No Naming and Shaming” Philosophy
A cornerstone of the Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 was its non-punitive nature. The detailed reports generated for each bank—highlighting their specific gaps in detection or decision-making—were kept confidential. There was no “league table” published.
This philosophy is crucial for the success of future drills. If banks fear that participation will lead to regulatory fines or public embarrassment, they will hide their weaknesses. by guaranteeing a “safe space,” the Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 encouraged transparency. Banks were willing to admit, “We failed this test,” which is the first step toward fixing the vulnerability. This culture of psychological safety is essential for genuine resilience.
Part V: Implications for the Pakistani Economy
Restoring and Maintaining Trust
The ultimate beneficiary of the Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 is the common depositor. In a fractional reserve banking system, trust is the currency. Rumors of a hack can cause a run on a bank faster than the hack itself can steal funds. By publicizing the existence of the drill—and the industry’s serious commitment to security—the PBA and SBP are reinforcing public confidence.
When a customer sees that 37 financial institutions have voluntarily subjected themselves to a rigorous Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025, it sends a message of maturity. It signals that their money is guarded not just by firewalls, but by a coordinated national strategy.
International Standing
Pakistan’s financial sector is globally integrated. Correspondent banking relationships, trade finance, and remittance flows rely on the international community’s trust in Pakistani banks’ compliance and security standards.
The successful execution of the Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 aligns Pakistan with global best practices, such as the exercises conducted by the Bank of England (CBEST) or the European Central Bank (TIBER-EU). It demonstrates to international partners—including the FATF, the IMF, and global correspondent banks—that Pakistan is proactive about systemic risk management. This can lower the “risk premium” associated with doing business in Pakistan, facilitating smoother cross-border transactions.
Part VI: Detailed Drill Scenarios and Methodologies
To fully appreciate the rigor of the Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025, it is worth delving deeper into the specific scenarios that participants faced. These were not generic, off-the-shelf tests; they were tailored to the specific technological realities of the Pakistani banking sector.
Scenario A: The Supply Chain Compromise
One of the most feared attack vectors today is the supply chain attack, where a hacker compromises a trusted software update to infiltrate hundreds of victims simultaneously (similar to the SolarWinds incident). The Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 simulated a scenario where a widely used software component—common to multiple banks—was “poisoned.”
Teams had to identify the anomaly not in their own code, but in the behavior of a trusted application. This tested their “Threat Hunting” capabilities. Could they spot a trusted vendor’s tool acting maliciously? This scenario directly informed the later discussions about vendor management and the need for the “boilerplate” agreement mentioned by Zafar Masud.
Scenario B: The Ransomware Negotiation
In the management track of the Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025, executives were presented with a “double extortion” ransomware scenario. In this situation, the attackers not only encrypted the bank’s data but also threatened to release sensitive customer information online if the ransom was not paid.
This placed the leadership in an ethical and legal dilemma. Paying the ransom might restore the data, but it funds criminal activity and is often illegal under anti-money laundering (AML) laws. However, not paying could lead to a massive data leak. The Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 forced executives to navigate this minefield, coordinating with legal counsel, the SBP, and law enforcement agencies in real-time.
Scenario C: The Social Media Storm
Modern cyber crises are fought as much on Twitter (X) and WhatsApp as they are on the server. The Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 included a “simulated social media” environment. As the technical teams fought the virus, the communications teams had to fight fake news.
Bots and fake accounts spread rumors that the bank was bankrupt. The communications heads had to draft press releases, record video messages, and issue customer alerts that were transparent enough to maintain trust but vague enough not to give the attackers useful information. This aspect of the Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 highlighted that clear, consistent communication is a security control in its own right.
Part VII: Conclusion
The Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 was more than just a test; it was a statement of intent. It declared that the Pakistani banking industry is no longer a fragmented collection of institutions but a unified front against digital aggression.
Under the guidance of the State Bank of Pakistan and the coordination of the Pakistan Banks’ Association, the sector has acknowledged a fundamental truth: resilience is a collective good. The vulnerabilities of one are the vulnerabilities of all. By successfully concluding the Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025, the industry has laid a foundation for a more secure future.
However, as Chairman Zafar Masud eloquently stated, “The cyber drill is not the destination; it is the foundation.” The attackers will evolve. They will use Artificial Intelligence, they will find new zero-day vulnerabilities, and they will exploit new geopolitical tensions. But with the precedents set by the Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025—the improved vendor contracts, the dual-track readiness, the operational empathy, and the strategic foresight—Pakistan’s financial sector is better equipped than ever to face the storm.
The Industry Wide Cyber Drill 2025 has proven that when the industry comes together, moving beyond competition to collaboration, it can build a digital fortress capable of withstanding the threats of the 21st century.