Outsourcing to Pakistan is as safe as the controls your partner puts in place. The country matters less than where your team works, whose devices they use, what they can access, what they have signed and how your data leaves your systems. Check those five things with any offshore partner before you share a password.
This checklist covers the controls to look for, how Chishty Global handles each one, and the data protection rules that apply in the UK, US, Canada and Australia.
Five controls to check with any offshore partner
- Where your team works. A supervised office is easier to control than home working, where you cannot see who else is in the room or on the network.
- Whose equipment they use. Company-owned, managed devices are safer than personal laptops that are also used for other things.
- What they can access. Your team should have only the access the role needs, through accounts you control and can switch off at any time.
- What they have signed. Every person who handles your data should be bound by confidentiality terms.
- What happens when things go wrong. Power cuts and internet outages are a real risk in many offshore locations; backup power and connectivity keep work, and data handling, on track.
How Chishty Global handles each one
Your team works from our managed office in Pakistan, not from home, under on-site supervision. They use company equipment, and the office has internet and power backup.
Before work starts, we agree access permissions, confidentiality terms and data-handling rules with you. Your team can work entirely inside your own systems, using accounts you control, so your data stays where it already is.
Keep your data in your systems
The safest offshore set-up is one where your data never leaves your systems. Instead of exporting spreadsheets or sharing files by email, give your team their own named accounts in your help desk, CRM, accounting or development tools.
- Use named accounts, never shared logins, so every action is traceable.
- Turn on multi-factor authentication for every account.
- Grant the minimum access each role needs, and review it when the role changes.
- Use single sign-on where you can, so access can be removed in one place.
- Keep activity logs switched on in the tools that hold personal data.
Data protection rules: what applies to you
When an offshore team handles personal data for you, your own country’s rules still apply to you. This is a summary, not legal advice; check the details with your adviser.
- UK and EU: Pakistan does not have a UK or EU adequacy decision, so transfers of personal data need appropriate safeguards, such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the EU Standard Contractual Clauses with the UK Addendum, usually backed by a transfer risk assessment.
- Canada: under PIPEDA, you remain accountable for personal information you transfer to a third party for processing, and are expected to protect it through contracts and be open with customers about cross-border processing.
- Australia: Australian Privacy Principle 8 requires you to take reasonable steps to make sure an overseas recipient handles personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles.
- United States: there is no single federal privacy law, but state laws such as California’s CCPA, and sector rules such as HIPAA for health data, set requirements for service providers and contracts.
If your lawyers need specific contract terms, raise it on your discovery call so it is built into your agreement from the start.
Questions to ask before you sign
- Will my team work from a supervised office or from home?
- Will they use company equipment, and who manages it?
- Can they work entirely inside our systems, with accounts we control?
- Does every team member sign confidentiality terms?
- What happens during a power cut or internet outage?
- How quickly can access be removed if someone leaves?
- Who do we contact if we have a security concern?
Our FAQ answers the most common questions about security, communication and hours, and our guide to outsourcing to Pakistan covers the wider picture.