Pakistan boosts financial cybersecurity with PCI DSS training

August 08, 2025 (MLN): In a bid to strengthen cybersecurity resilience across Pakistan’s financial and fintech sectors, the National Institute of Banking and Finance, Pakistan (NIBAF-Pakistan), in collaboration with Risk Associates, conducted a two-day capacity-building training.

The training focused on the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and was held on 7–8 August 2025, according to a press release issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) today.

This pioneering initiative was made possible through the forward-looking vision of the State Bank of Pakistan, whose leadership continues to champion digital security across the country’s banking and payments ecosystem.

The session brought together cybersecurity professionals and representatives from leading banks and financial institutions, reflecting a shared commitment to securing financial data and building trust in digital payments.

Risk Associates, a globally recognised certification body and PCI Qualified Security Assessor (QSA), led the training with technical expertise and actionable insights on PCI DSS v4.0.

The program focused on payment security architecture, cardholder data protection, and compliance lifecycle management, critical pillars for institutions navigating today’s sophisticated threat landscape.

The initiative signals a long-term commitment to building cybersecurity capability within Pakistan’s financial ecosystem, particularly in the fast-evolving fintech space.

It also supports the country’s ambition to contribute skilled cybersecurity professionals to regional and global markets, especially across the Middle East and GCC financial hubs.

 Co CEO NIBAF-Pakistan Ms. Lubna Malik while sharing her thoughts on this occasion noted that the training marks a major milestone in NIBAF-Pakistan’s commitment to enhancing the cybersecurity capabilities of banking professionals across Pakistan.

She further noticed that by embedding international standards like PCI DSS into our learning framework, we are ensuring financial institutions are better prepared for today’s dynamic threat environment.

CEO Risk Associates Dr. Aftab Rizvi while commenting on the completion of the training program said that the collaboration with NIBAF-Pakistan marks a transformative moment for Pakistan’s cybersecurity landscape.

He further added that by aligning with the State Bank of Pakistan’s vision, his organization is not only empowering financial institutions with global standards like PCI DSS but also fostering local expertise to meet international benchmarks.

As digital payment adoption accelerates, standardised, resilient security frameworks like PCI DSS are essential to protect sensitive data and enable trust-driven growth.

Building on this success, Risk Associates and NIBAF-P plan to expand their collaboration to include advanced training on cybersecurity governance, ISO/IEC 27001, and emerging threats shaping the financial sector.

Copyright Mettis Link News