Focus is now on cyber security

With the government’s massive digital initiative for banking, Aadhaar-linked service delivery and broadband expansion plan, there comes the question of cyber security and the country’s preparedness and technological capability to handle the same.

Be it paying mobile phone bills or buying groceries, one enters bank account details that are vulnerable to attacks.

According to Norton By Symantec’s India findings from the annual Norton Cyber Security Insights Report, India ranks No 4 globally, and No 2 in Asia, in terms of falling prey to ransomware.

“Cyber security is critical for safeguarding the integrity and stability of our financial sector,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley mentioned in the Budget, adding that a Computer Emergency Response Team for the financial sector (CERT-Fin) will be established.

He said that this entity will work in close coordination with all financial sector regulators and other stakeholders.

“India is traditionally behind cyber security standards compared to developed nations, but the latest demonetisation has fuelled the requirement of better cyber security policies and framework. Hence, the formation of core team for the financial sector is a great move. However, implementation will only see the right results,” Chi Networks MD (India) Surjit K Bawa said.

Chi Networks is a cloud-based solution provider, specialising in cyber security. Based out of Chicago, the company has over 200 clients in India.

“Everything is getting digital across the board and cyber security will be one huge challenge,” said Chi Networks VP (Technology) Nitin Sachdev, adding that most organisations lack the security expertise to manage security solutions from multiple vendors.

In the past year, 70% of organisations were compromised by a successful cyber-attack, and directly or indirectly, one in three organisations do not have a written information security policy, he said.

According to a report, global cyber security spend would increase by 7.9%, and reach $81.6 billion in 2016, and to $101.6 billion by 2020, whereas, the growth of cyber security in India will surpass the global rate and will be clocked at 10.6%, but the Indian share to the pie will be only $1.24 billion by 2017.

Stressing on data privacy, Quintype Founder and CEO Amit Rathore said, “With IoT, all devices — be it camera or doorbells — have sensors, and all their software are vulnerable.”