Emerging Cybersecurity Measures taken in the Indian Cyberspace
The necessity to make everyone realize the importance of internet has increased as the Indian government led by PM Narendra Modi, initiated a leading program – the “Digital India”. It is an authentic attempt to confirm that government services are digitally presented to the citizens by creating a robust connection between the government departments and its people. Digitization has encouraged youths of the country to work in multinational companies sitting back in their villages. Working from home with seminars through the internet, instant digital transfer of money, etc. are no more new in India today.
Besides driving digital transformation, the Digital India Programme is building a protected digital set-up for the country. Digital Banking has also increased tremendously in the last 4 years expecting a growth from 270 B to 1 trillion USD in the coming 5 years.
Along with these mind-blowing services and their advantages, came some of the stumbling blocks too. Increased digitization has opened loopholes which are exploited by cyber criminals and withdraw our opportunity of digital advantages.
According to ITU Global Cybersecurity Index, in 2015, India was the 5th secured country among some 134 countries but now has moved to 50th in 2019. So, to bring up India’s cybersecurity status, the government has come up with certain policies.
Key cybersecurity policies launched by the Government of India
- National Cybersecurity Policy: In 2013, the government of India, released the national cybersecurity policy that delivers planned course to defend the country’s cyber ecosystem.
- National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC): In 2014, this policy was developed to defend India’s critical information infrastructure against cyber-crime and terrorism.
- National Cybersecurity Coordination Centre (NCCC): In 2017, the NCCC was developed to create a consciousness of cybercrimes in the country.
- Cyber Swachhta Kendra: In 2017, this platform was introduced for internet users to clean their computers and devices by wiping out viruses and malware.
- International cooperation: Looking forward to becoming a secure cyber ecosystem, India has joined hands with several developed countries like the United States, Singapore, Japan, etc. These agreements will help India to challenge even more sophisticated cyber threats.
- Promoting research and development: Encouraging cybersecurity in the country, the government of India has offered a fund of 5 crores to companies that work for the research and revolution of cybersecurity.
- Sectoral and state CERTs: Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) is a team of experts that is responsible for the management of security incidents. CERTs on power and finance sectors have been launched by the Indian government. State CERTs are also coming soon.
- Security testing: For testing IT products, there are some 10 setups for STQC (Standardisation, Testing and Quality Certification) across the country.
The vision of the Indian government’s cybersecurity policy is to provide a secure cyber ecosystem to the citizens by creating enough trust and assurance in the IT organization and communications in the cyber ecosystem. It also includes empowering the regulatory frameworks, maintaining a 24X7 mechanism for detecting cyber threats, and improving the visibility of ICT products and their services by test and validation of their products. The government of India also aims to establish a workforce of 5 lakh skilled professionals through proper training and enabling a cyber secure space through suitable legislative involvement.
After adopting the Digital India initiative, there are chances of increased cyber threats in the country. So, the government and the Indian enterprises must be all set to deal with the increasing crimes. However, the NCSP (National Cybersecurity Policy) is a confirmatory footstep taken on the right track. This policy integrates all old and new agendas under a common framework with a unified objective.