PISF 2026 compliance sits at the centre of Pakistan’s national cybersecurity architecture. The Pakistan Information Security Framework, Cabinet-approved with 238 mandatory controls across 13 documents, now sets the baseline for every federal and provincial government body and every entity designated as Critical Information Infrastructure — administered by nCERT (PKCERT), whose own audit-firm registration is the primary cross-sector path for compliance firms outside PTA.
Mutex Systems has an active audit-firm application in progress with nCERT (PKCERT) and supports government bodies, NADRA-integrated systems, and designated CII entities through PISF gap assessment, biometric-data-handling compliance, and CERT Rules 2023 alignment.
Every regulator with real jurisdiction over government in Pakistan, what they actually require, and where the audit-firm empanelment opportunity or existing engagement stands.
National Database & Registration Authority
Not registered — opportunity
National Information Technology Board
Not registered — opportunity
National Computer Emergency Response Team of Pakistan
Application in progress
Named instruments, not vague policy statements — sourced from official regulator publications.
nCERT (PKCERT) / Federal Cabinet
Applies to: Federal & provincial govt ministries/divisions/departments, autonomous bodies, corporations, sectoral CERTs, designated CII entities
Requires: 238 mandatory controls across 13 documents — governance, risk assessment, incident response, BCP/DR, secure SDLC, web-app security
Read the official sourceMoITT / nCERT
Applies to: Sectoral CERTs and CII operators
Requires: Establishes nCERT's mandate, sectoral CERT coordination, and the legal basis for CII designation
Read the official sourceNADRA
Applies to: NADRA's own systems and any entity integrating with NADRA's Verisys/biometric verification services
Requires: Governs biometric and citizen-data handling; underpins the 'Ijazat Aapki' consent-based data-sharing service (live since 2023)
Read the official sourceMoITT
Applies to: All public & private sector organisations nationally
Requires: National cyber-governance structure, risk-based approach, incident-response coordination, capacity-building
Read the official sourcePISF's 238 controls across 13 documents are imported into grComply as a ControlNode tree, mapped 1:1 to ISO 27001, NIST CSF, and SOC 2 equivalents — so one piece of evidence satisfies PISF and an international standard at once.
PISF 2026 is a Cabinet-approved cybersecurity framework issued by nCERT (PKCERT) comprising 238 mandatory controls across 13 documents. It sets the security baseline for federal and provincial government ministries, divisions, departments, autonomous bodies, corporations, sectoral CERTs, and any entity formally designated as Critical Information Infrastructure (CII). It covers governance, risk assessment, incident response, business continuity and disaster recovery, secure software development lifecycle, and web-application security.
nCERT (PKCERT) — the National Computer Emergency Response Team of Pakistan, established in March 2024 under CERT Rules 2023 — is the apex national cybersecurity authority coordinating sectoral CERTs and CII protection. Its Cyber Security Audit Firm registration, open since February 2025, uses a CAT-I to CAT-IV categorisation and is the main cross-sector path for audit firms outside PTA's telecom-specific process. Mutex Systems has an active application in progress.
Yes. NADRA's National Registration & Biometric Policy Framework Version 2.0 governs biometric and citizen-data handling for NADRA's own systems and any entity integrating with NADRA's Verisys biometric-verification services. It underpins the 'Ijazat Aapki' consent-based data-sharing service, live since 2023 — Pakistan's first citizen-facing data-protection service of its kind. Despite holding the country's largest sensitive citizen dataset, NADRA has not published a public third-party cyber-audit panel.
CERT Rules 2023, issued by MoITT and nCERT, establish the legal foundation empowering nCERT and the PISF, including the formal authority to designate an entity as Critical Information Infrastructure. Once designated, an entity falls under the full PISF control baseline rather than the general National Cyber Security Policy 2021 umbrella alone.
No. The Personal Data Protection Bill 2023 (PDPB), drafted by MoITT with Cabinet approval-in-principle in July 2023, remains pending in Parliament as of 2026 — it is not yet enacted law. Until it passes, the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 (PECA) serves as Pakistan’s de facto data-protection and cybercrime enforcement law, alongside PISF’s interim data-handling and breach-notification controls for government and CII entities.
Yes. Mutex Systems supports government bodies and CII-designated entities with PISF 2026 gap assessment against the 238-control baseline, CERT Rules 2023 alignment, and biometric/citizen-data-handling compliance for NADRA-integrated systems. We have an active nCERT audit-firm application in progress, alongside our existing PTA-Approved Cyber Security Auditor status.
Send us a short brief — your current posture, which regulator you answer to, and any inspection or audit deadline. Within two working days you will receive a written response and a proposed scoping call.