IT sector eyes $15b boom as DFDI spurs momentum
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Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja, on Wednesday, reaffirmed Pakistan's commitment to accelerating digital transformation, highlighting significant progress in IT exports and investment pledges during the Digital Direct Investment Forum (DDIF).
Addressing a press conference alongside Digital Cooperation Organisation (DCO) Secretary General Deemah AlYahya, Khawaja said government policies have already delivered a 25% increase in IT exports. Pakistan is projected to reach $4 billion in IT exports in the current fiscal year (July 2024-June 2025), up from $3.2 billion last year — marking 27% growth.
The minister announced ambitious targets of generating $15 billion in direct IT exports and products, along with an additional $10 billion in economic impact through the National Digitalisation Programme. "Participants at the forum have pledged nearly $700 million in Pakistan's digital sector," she noted, calling the DDIF a vital platform for attracting international partners and investment.
DCO Secretary General AlYahya praised Pakistan's digital efforts and thanked the Ministry of IT, Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) and partners for organising the successful forum. "We congratulate Pakistan on such an impactful event," she said.
Meanwhile, on World Password Day, cybersecurity firm Kaspersky issued a warning about the risks of using AI-generated passwords. The company found that many passwords created by large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Llama, and DeepSeek were still vulnerable.
According to Kaspersky's data science team lead Alexey Antonov, up to 32% of LLM-generated passwords lacked required elements like special characters or digits. Nearly 60% of the 1,000 passwords tested could be cracked in under an hour using modern GPUs or cloud-based tools.
Kaspersky recommends using dedicated password management tools rather than relying on AI. "All of the models are aware that a good password consists of at least 12 characters, including uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols," says Antonov, adding that, "In practice, though, the algorithms often neglect these instructions."
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