Preface
In this article, we will cover how India deals with Cyber Security and talk about the current scenario in this massive country revolving around securing cyberspaces.
Introduction
India is growing closer to becoming the largest player in IT and with this, the world will be looking to India about matters related to cyber security. As a matter of fact, the United Nations ITU Global Cybersecurity Agenda has placed India in 10th place according to the Cyber Security Ranking of Countries from its previous rank of 47. However, India still has some way to go before it can offer holistic protection from cyber attacks to companies and assets from all industries. The massive number of IT companies in India have advanced cyber security protection and dedicated professionals for handling breaches, leaks, and other attacks such as infecting systems or causing data loss.
But what about the common citizens of India and the companies that do not have an IT department? This is why cyber security is very important, it helps advanced nations such as India where government agencies, organizations for public interests, and government companies have started handling their data online and start using systems connected to the internet to carry on their daily operations. Meanwhile, good cyber security implementations also help India in protecting Indian citizens by keeping their personal information safe or by protecting them from fraud.
India has started enforcing extreme cyber security measures to protect sensitive government infrastructure. Government infrastructure can involve dam operations or power generators, identities of citizens, financial data of individuals, and other sensitive data that can compromise national security.
Cyber Security in India is a growing concern and India has already started working towards the common goal of protecting national assets. India has also started to plan and implement a newer and more improved Cyber Security Policy by 2022 as the 2013 National Cyber Security Policy and IT Act of 2008 have started to get outclassed by the advent of more modern hacking methods and malware.
With the introduction of technology in every field and with the rapid digitization we are experiencing, the scope for cyberattacks has been ever-expanding. There are more ways to penetrate the IT infrastructure, account, and data of a company or person now, this is why India has been focusing a lot on strengthening its cyber defenses and protecting its citizens and national interests.
What is Cyber Security?
Cyber security is a holistic set of measures that we take in order to protect computers, peripherals, networks, servers, mobile devices, programs, data, and other electronic systems such as smart homes from cyber attacks. Cyber attacks can be in the form of malware or even social engineering methods in order to get someone to click a malicious link. Cyber security helps in protecting against attacks meant for accessing, altering, extracting, and destroying valuable systems or data.
Cyberattacks can lead to smaller events such as important government portals or websites going offline or major problems such as loss of power in cities that can even lead to a loss in human lives. Financial theft, Identity theft, and blackmail are leading causes of cyber attacks followed by attacks commissioned by organizations or other countries. Cyber attacks can be both politically motivated or random acts of terror, this is why Cyber Security is so important.
There are many grounds to cover when it comes to cyber security, there are so many sources and motives that securing your cyberspace must be a holistic approach. It is not only external threats that organizations and government agencies should be scared of but internal security compromises as well which can be expedited by people inside the organization on purpose or by mistake.
Cyber security protects nuclear sites, banks, electricity plants, hospitals, and many other valuable locations that use digital infrastructure. This field is also centered around investigating and analyzing more emerging threats and newer vulnerabilities. Cyber security procedures also indicate that people within the organization (or country) should also be educated about how to protect themselves from being victims of cyberattacks.
For example, the Government of India sends multiple messages throughout the year in order to warn citizens not to provide their details to unknown callers and to not share OTPs sent to their phones. Cyber security is not just there for identifying and fixing malicious attacks but also for preventing them from happening in the first place.
For instance, cyber security professionals scan the systems for vulnerabilities frequently and run penetration testing in order to figure out how security can get compromised. This field is a lot about predicting attacks and reinforcing the targets with the necessary cyber protection in order to stop cyber attacks. Antiviruses, monitoring, advanced authorization requirements, and encryption of information are some methods of securing cyberspaces.
Here are some important components of Cyber Security:
- Network security
- Data security
- Electronic information security
- Application security
- Cloud security
- IoT security
- Critical Infrastructure security
Cyber Security in India
India is dependent on technology and the Internet more than ever, especially with the onset of the pandemic. A lot of government services have shifted online while we have started completely relying on the internet and our devices for working in our jobs, for education, and for businesses. When it comes to cyber security, the Indian Government has recorded 11,60,000 cyber security cases in 2020, three times more than in 2019. India has been a victim of critical cyberattacks such as the phishing attack on the Union Bank of India in 2016 which almost led to a $171 million fraudulent transaction.
We also cannot forget the wave of ransomware attacks that infected thousands of computers including government agencies in 2017. Even in 2021, the Covid-test lab results of thousands of Indian citizens were leaked from Government websites. The data of 190,000 CAT or Common Admission Test candidates were also leaked during May while customer data such as personal and credit card information of 45,00,000 passengers were leaked from Air India servers during the same month.
This is why India is slowly improving upon its existing policies such as The National Cyber Security Policy that was laid out in 2013. In 2022, India is planning to take the global stage with a better and more advanced National Policy on Cybersecurity by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology.
With this new policy, the Indian Government will ensure that all the cyberspaces that are being accessed by people inside the borders of India are safe, resilient, and secure. India plans to make cyberspace trustworthy and truly safe through better guidelines, cyber audits, protection of resources, advanced security, and by trying to educate common folk about the importance of being safe from cyber attacks.
It is one of the main priorities of the Indian government now to explain how to protect yourself online and secure your devices. The government will also improve its guidelines for companies as by enforcing these guidelines on them, India can protect the information and data of its citizens.
By protecting these kinds of national interests, the state of cyber security in India will improve drastically. For example, for the sake of protecting the data of citizens and for matters of national security, India banned multiple Chinese games such as PubG. So, it makes sense that our country will soon be taking these matters much more seriously during the coming years and making our devices and the internet a safe digital environment for us to use.
Challenges of Cyber Security in India
India has advanced quite a lot in terms of digitization and adoption of IT infrastructure, however, the state of cyber security in India is in dire need of an upgrade. This is especially due to the lack of centralization where state government agencies are in charge of protecting their resources and data. India as a country is performing excellently in terms of Cyber Defence Systems, but we must also enforce strict guidelines to all government-run firms to secure their systems and data.
Here are some of India’s cyber security challenges:
- One of the most important challenges of India’s cyber security challenges is the fact that there is a huge lack of uniformity in the kinds of devices that are used to access the internet. This makes it very hard for technical and legal standards to be set to protect devices and data using government regulations.
- The second challenge is a huge lack of centralized national-level cyber security architecture. India already has the means to protect critical infrastructure such as the Indian Army’s digital assets, however, this is not centralized enough to protect the entire country.
- There is no end to the possibilities of an attack and the kinds of attacks that can be carried out. Cyber security attacks can occur at any time and from anywhere. The threat can be of any form and new vulnerabilities are discovered on a daily basis to compromise the security of systems. This makes it hard to keep up and incorporate the perfect system that is necessary currently.
- Finally, there is an enormous lack of awareness as a National cyber security regulatory policy does not exist for individuals. Corporations and companies already have and follow all these regulations, yes, but there should be a supervised framework that must be followed by common internet users as well.
FAQs- Frequently Asked Questions
Q1.Does India have cyber security?
Yes, in cyber security, the Indian government has started making great advancements. India has managed to install highly sophisticated cyber protection and has started taking measures to ensure that future cyber attacks are prevented.
Q2.Who is responsible for cyber security in India?
The Cyber Emergency Response Team (CERT) and the National Cyber Security Coordination Team (Part of the NCCC) are responsible for cyber security in India. Other than this, the defense ministry is also highly involved in matters of national security.
Q3.What is the scope of cyber security in India?
The scope of cyber security in India is immense and India is rapidly adopting IT infrastructure across all industries and there is a large number of companies operating in India who highly depend on IT already,
Key Takeaway
During this era, cyber security is absolutely essential for securing data, networks, computers, programs, and even the cloud, India has a country, and all of us, its citizens, all rely on various devices, online servers, and digital assets for daily activities, thus requiring protection from the numerous hackers and cyber terrorists out there.
Not having sufficient online protection can lead to serious crimes, identity thefts, financial loss, data leaks, and a loss of information. Getting hacked can even cause the victims to go bankrupt. Cyber security in India is absolutely one of the central focuses now and eventually, as a country, we will be leading the world in terms of cyber security due to our vast expertise in IT.
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