India has a huge shortage of cyber security specialists-
ASSOCHAM-KPMG
India as a country, is most vulnerable to cyber security
attacks, since the authorities in the government and private sectors are not
geared up to tackle the menace as a comprehensive strategy said Mr. Harjinder
Singh Lallie from the University of Warwick, Mr. Lallie who is an acknowledged
expert on cyber security and digital investigation in the UK said “a good
amount of work has been done in some sectors but in many others it was woefully
inadequate”.
Mr. Lallie said that this kind of an unscientific approach
will not help the Govt or / Industry
since the threat can virtually cripple the country’s operations. He quoted the
example of the Stuxnet Virus which can affect industrial control systems. This
virus has the potential to damage India’s water filtering systems, oil pipe
lines, air traffic control systems, electrical power generating systems, and
other critical systems.
The greatest impact will be on India’s ability to handle
such threats and attacks and the international community will be weary of doing
business with a nation whose ability to ensure & secure business
relationships are questionable.
He further added that “the best way for India to move
forward and develop its ability to handle such serious and critical issues is
to collaborate with specialized universities in the UK & USA, thereby
producing highly qualified professionals who can help to prevent such
devastating attacks.
Quoting a Gartner report he said "The country's
information security market is expected to grow by 18 % to reach Rs 1,415 crore
in 2013 on the back of increased spending by companies to secure their
information assets.
Despite a
continuing economic slowdown that has
been putting pressure on IT budgets around the world, cyber security
spending globally would continue on an upward trajectory, reaching $ 8600 Crore
in 2016, up from $ 6000 Crore in 2012."
India will require five lakh cyber security
professionals by 2015 to support its fast growing internet economy according to
an estimate by the Union Ministry of Information Technology.
India, with its 86 Crore mobile subscriptions (although,
the numbers of users would be lower than this figure) is looking more and more
to the internet as a delivery platform of socio-economic programs & a tool to boost the economy. The fact is that
as the remaining unconnected population of India begins to acquire internet
connections through desktops and smart phones, the government is increasingly
looking at security and surveillance over the internet as a necessary and
inevitable option.
This also means that the government needs to rely on the
industry to help them with this gigantic task. It is here that the crying need
of cyber security professionals will be felt.
WMG at the University of Warwick is a top international
University and is a world leading institution in teaching Masters level Cyber
Security and also in the research being conducted in the subject area. The most
unique aspect of their approach to dealing with the issue of cyber security is
the involvement of industry - which sits at the cutting edge of the problem,
with the course. Up to 20% of the course is delivered by companies such as IBM,
HP, Kaspersky, the UK police forces.
This innovative approach is crucial because of the daily
changing threats. Mr Harjinder Singh Lallie has undertaken countless guest
lectures around India to raise awareness of the problem amongst faculty and
students, and his lectures and interactions have directly led to the
development of Cyber Security curriculum at two Universities and he is working
with others to help develop appropriate curriculum.
For further information please
email to Prof. H.S. Lallie at
h.s.lallie@warwick.ac.uk
or Satyan Bhatt
at satyanbhatt@prism-india.com.
Prism PR
David Holla
Phone : 044 - 2466 1153
Email: info@prism-india.com
