Former Chairman of the National Database and Registration Authority and current World Bank adviser Tariq Malik has been recognised among the world’s top 25 experts in digital identity and public infrastructure. The selection was compiled by Okta, a globally recognised digital identity and cybersecurity platform, which identified individuals whose work has significantly influenced digital identity systems and secure infrastructure worldwide. The names and images of the selected experts are set to be displayed on May 4 on the iconic digital screens of Times Square in New York City.
Tariq Malik, son of renowned academic Professor Fateh Malik, has previously served in multiple high-profile roles including at the United Nations and as a technical adviser at the World Bank. He is widely credited with developing Pakistan’s digital identity infrastructure and playing a key role in designing systems such as the Benazir Income Support Programme digital framework. During his tenure at NADRA, Tariq Malik was instrumental in modernising Pakistan’s national identity and registration systems, while also maintaining an active role in strengthening cybersecurity and improving digital governance standards in the country.
The recognition by Okta places Tariq Malik in a select cohort of global practitioners who have shaped how digital identity systems are built, governed, and secured across both developed and developing economies. Digital identity infrastructure has become one of the most strategically significant domains in public sector technology, underpinning everything from financial inclusion and social protection delivery to border management and civic participation. Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority, which Malik led, is widely regarded as one of the most sophisticated identity systems in the developing world, having registered over 130 million citizens with biometric data and supported digital delivery of government services at a scale that few comparable institutions have achieved.
His work has been recognised internationally for contributing to secure identity systems and advancing public sector digital transformation, with the recognition placing him among a select group of global experts shaping the future of digital identity and secure public infrastructure. For Pakistan, the acknowledgment of a former national institution leader among the world’s top 25 in any global technology domain is a meaningful signal of the calibre of expertise the country has developed and exported into international institutions, and reflects the growing global relevance of the work done to build Pakistan’s identity, registration, and digital governance systems over the past two decades.
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