The National Cyber Emergency Response Team (PKCERT) has issued a security alert to institutions amid fears of possible cyberattacks during Defence Day observances.
According to the alert, institutions have been directed to establish special cybersecurity control rooms from September 5 to 7, 2026, while sectoral and provincial CERTs have been instructed to remain on high alert.
Critical information infrastructure organisations have also been asked to stay vigilant and prepare to respond to potential cyber threats.
PKCERT said the National Security Operations Centre (NSOC) would serve as the national cyber coordination centre during Defence Day. It will remain operational around the clock to monitor the cyber situation and facilitate the exchange of critical information.
The alert directed institutions to continuously monitor important networks, systems, websites and digital services and report major cyber incidents, suspicious activity and potential security breaches immediately.
Organisations have also been advised to coordinate with NSOC for cyber threat intelligence sharing and a joint response, while technical teams should remain ready for immediate emergency response.
PKCERT recommended additional measures to protect government and critical institutions’ websites, portals, APIs and email services.
These include activating web application firewalls and DDoS protection, keeping web systems updated and securing administrative accounts through multi-factor authentication and stronger security controls.
Institutions were further instructed to update operating systems, disable unnecessary services, maintain firewalls on critical servers and keep systems for detecting and preventing cyberattacks active.
The alert also called for critical databases to be kept off public IP addresses and for security logs to be continuously monitored.
Critical organisations were directed to keep disaster recovery sites ready for immediate use, maintain offline or air-gapped backups of important systems and configurations, and ensure alternative internet connectivity and power backups for data centres and security operations centres.
