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The federal government has issued a blanket ban on the use of private email accounts for all official correspondence across public sector institutions, including the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). The move aims to strengthen data security and protect sensitive state information.
A formal circular has been issued referencing an earlier directive from the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT), instructing all government departments to immediately stop using personal email services such as Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail for any official communication.
According to the MoITT letter cited in the circular, continued use of private emails poses a serious threat to national security, data confidentiality, and information integrity. The National Telecommunication and Information Technology Security Board (NTISB) has repeatedly warned that private email servers are not part of the government’s secure digital infrastructure and are highly vulnerable to cyberattacks, data leaks, and unauthorized access.
The circular mandates that all official correspondence including formal documents, reports, and inter-departmental communications must be conducted exclusively through registered government email addresses. Administrative secretaries and heads of departments have been directed to ensure strict compliance and immediately communicate the directive to all subordinate offices.
The government also emphasized that any security breach resulting from the use of unauthorized or private email accounts will be the responsibility of the concerned officer or institution.
