Cyber security: is india ready to tackle this menace?

As crooks get more advanced, so do the defences that we need to implement in our personal and business lives. Cyber security used to only be something to think about if we worked with sensitive data. Today it is essential to be thinking about cyber security no matter what walk of life you are in.

India's cyber security infrastructure lacks coherence and is ridden with gaps

The cyber security infrastructure in India lags behind the rest of the world. The country has been witnessing a rapid growth in digital transactions and internet usage over the past few years. With thousands of websites being hacked every year, it is imperative that we strengthen our cyber security infrastructure as soon as possible.

The cyber security infrastructure in India lacks coherence and is ridden with gaps. There are several reasons for this - lack of awareness about cyber security among common people, weak enforcement of law against cyber criminals, inadequate laws to tackle crimes against women on the internet and so on. As per an estimate by Cisco Systems Inc., an American multinational technology company headquartered in San Jose, California, India would be home to over 200 million active internet users by 2017.

This means that there will be more than one billion smartphones operating in India by 2020.

The culture of cyber security in india

The culture of cyber security in India is still in its nascent stages. Most businesses do not have a well-defined cyber security strategy and their employees are ill-equipped to deal with cyber attacks. The lack of awareness, training and education on cyber security is a major concern for the government as well as businesses.

The government has taken steps to address this issue by launching several initiatives including National Cyber Security Policy (NCSP) 2015 and National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC). The NCSP aims to protect critical infrastructure, e-governance services, defence, financial sector and others from cyber attacks. It also seeks to improve coordination among different agencies involved in combating cyber crimes.

The NCCC has been set up as a nodal agency to coordinate among different organisations involved in tackling cyber crimes in India. However, the culture of cyber security in India is still in its nascent stages. Most businesses do not have a well-defined cyber security strategy and their employees are ill-equipped to deal with cyber attacks.

The public-private gap

India is the world’s second-largest Internet user base after China. With more than 300 million users, India has the highest number of Internet users in the world. The country is also home to some of the world’s largest technology companies, including Microsoft and Google. But despite these facts, cyber security remains a major concern in India.

Cyber attacks on Indian businesses are on the rise and many companies are finding it difficult to protect themselves from such attacks. According to IBM Security's global security study, 92 percent of Indian respondents said they were worried about cyber threats, up from 84 percent last year. The government has taken steps to ensure its citizens are protected from these attacks but there has been little progress on this front.

There is a huge gap between what is being done by the government and what should be done to ensure citizens are safe from cyber attacks.

Future challenges

Cyber security is a growing concern for the world. With the rise of technology and internet, the threat of cyber attacks has become more common. India has been among one of the most affected countries with over 70% of its population using internet. Cyber security is not merely about protecting information and data but also ensuring that your business is safe from any form of attack or misuse.

The government is taking steps to ensure that cyber security issues are addressed adequately but there are many challenges which need to be overcome before we can say that India is fully prepared for this menace. One major challenge in this regard is lack of awareness among people regarding cyber security issues.

Many companies don’t realize how important it is to invest in cyber security solutions until they face an attack on their network or website which can cause serious damage to their reputation as well as revenue loss. Another major challenge faced by companies in India is that there aren’t enough skilled people available who can handle such tasks effectively.

There aren’t enough good programmers who can write code for implementing firewalls, encryption etc.

In a nutshell

Cyber attacks are extremely prevalent and will continue to spread across the globe at an alarming pace. India is no exception and we have the potential to be a major cyber power in the coming years. We must therefore strengthen our infrastructure and learn more about cyber security in our country.

How serious are you about your cyber security?