Government to Announce New Cyber Security Policy Soon

While speaking at the 6th Cyber Security India Summit 2020 held at New Delhi, Lt. Gen. (Dr) Rajesh Pant, National Cyber Security Coordinator, Prime Minister's Office, Government of India said that Government of India is working on a new Cyber Security Policy.

New Delhi [India], Mar 11 (/NewsVoir): While speaking at the 6th Cyber Security India Summit 2020 held at New Delhi, Lt. Gen. (Dr) Rajesh Pant, National Cyber Security Coordinator, Prime Minister's Office, Government of India said that Government of India is working on a new Cyber Security Policy.

According to Lt. Gen. Pant, the new policy is expected to touch all aspects related to the cyber ecosystem. The policy is expected to be announced within two to three months time. The Cyber policy would address the issues of standardization, testing, auditing and capacity building around Cyber ecosystem.

"The most important aspect of the policy would be to address the cyber threat and synergies between various stakeholders," said Pant.

India is the second most cyber-attacked country in the world. As India has become one of the most data usage countries in the world, there has been a considerable increase in the cyber risk vulnerability, which according to panellists could impact the GDP growth of the country, if not addressed. The other important point of discussion during the summit was the ownership of the data.

"As an orgsation, we are exposed to approximately 30 million people on daily basis, of which we collect date of about 3 million people and also we have to manage the data of 1.4 million employees for over 45-50 years. While we have to provide service and also are required to manage the data, it becomes extremely difficult for us to manage both. Moreso, when ownership and privacy of the data is concerned," said Vijay K Devnath, GM (I&S), MDMS & CISO), Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS), Government of India.

"The issue of who own the data and where should data be kept has become an important issue," said Shashi Dharan, Managing Director, Bharat Exhibitions.

According to Amit Sharma, Advisor (Cyber) and Director at the Office of Secretary, Department of Defence the Government of India has put in place various checks and balances to protect the data getting vulnerable to cyber leakage. "The ownership of data is very critical. There is a discussion happening around this aspect on the international level. Our government proactive on this front" said Sharma.

On the issue of CSO (Cyber Security Officer), Sharma said: "If this issue would have come up five years back, then we were putting make a headway. However, today at least every department of Government of India has a CSO."

Supporting Sharma's statement on CSO, R Shakaya, DDG (Security Assurance) DoT, Ministry of Communications said: "Besides the Government departments, CSO has become part of many private sectors also, like Banking and Telecommunication industries. However, a lot needs to be done on this front so as to reach a more secure cyber environment."

The common concern amongst the top cybersecurity experts gathered at the 6th International Summit on Cyber Security India, 2020, was that the country was extremely vulnerable to cyber-attacks and how to put the countermeasures in place.

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( With inputs from ANI )