—File Photo

The government of Pakistan is planning to develop its own version of WhatsApp-like application for its government officials to protect official data and sensitive information from hackers and hostile intelligence agencies.

“We have been working to improve our cybersecurity and develop a messaging application like WhatsApp for government officials as part of the move,” Dr. Arslan Khalid, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s focal person on digital media, told Arab News.

“This local application will help us protect sensitive government data and other classified information from hostile spying agencies and hackers.”

Pakistan is ranked among the top seven countries with the worst cybersecurity as over 25 percent of its mobile phones and 14.8 percent of computers are infected with malware, according to a study conducted by UK-based tech firm Comparitech.

Meanwhile, the upcoming messaging platform would work as an official communication channel between all federal ministries to share official documents.