August 16, 2016 By Amit Kumar 3 min read

India is gearing up to bring in new encryption and privacy policies to take on growing cybersecurity challenges. It may also amend the existing laws to make cyberspace more secure.

Digital India Marches On

In recent times, India has launched a series of cybersecurity initiatives to digitally empower its citizens and safeguard cyberspace. As the Digital India initiative progresses, cyberattacks have doubled year over year, and Indian businesses and government sites have become more vulnerable.

In the wake of increasing cyberthreats, India appointed its first chief information security officer (CISO). The appointment underlines India’s commitment to combating cyberattacks. It will help India develop the vision and policy to fight cybercrime and manage cybersecurity more effectively.

India is also in the process of setting up national cybersecurity architecture. The architecture will provide a framework for designated agencies to monitor, certify and fortify India’s networks in accordance with the law.

However, there is currently no national agency to assess the nature of cyberthreats and respond to them effectively. Some analysts recommend the creation of a National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA) as an answer to the challenge. An NCSA would improve India’s resilience and defense systems. It would also be responsible for a wide range of cybersecurity transformations in the area of policy formulation and its implementation at the national level.

Global Cooperation

India and the U.S. agreed to cooperate on cybersecurity issues during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent trip to the U.S. As a part of the U.S.-India Cyber Relationship Framework, both countries agreed to share cybersecurity best practices, share threat information on a real-time basis, promote cooperation between law enforcement agencies and encourage collaboration in the field of cybersecurity research. India and the U.S. will also establish joint mechanisms to mitigate cyberthreats and protect internet infrastructure and information.

In 2015, India and the U.K. made a joint statement about cooperation in the cybersecurity space. The two countries agreed to work together to provide professional development and establish a Cyber Security Training Centre of Excellence. The U.K. also agreed to help launch the proposed National Cyber Crime Coordination Centre in India.

India has also entered into cybersecurity cooperation with Malaysia and the European Union. There is a strong case for India to collaborate with more countries, but in the meantime, these partnerships are a great foundation.

Growing Cybersecurity Challenges

Though India has taken a series of steps to harden its security posture, the number of cyberattacks and average cost of a data breach have increased significantly.

The “2016 Cost of Data Breach Study: India” reported that the average total cost of a data breach paid by Indian companies increased by 9.5 percent, while the per capita cost increased by 8.7 percent and the average size of a breach grew by 8.1 percent. Additionally, 41 percent of Indian companies experienced a data breach as a result of a malicious or criminal attack — the most common root cause of a data breach.

India needs a comprehensive cybersecurity law to be prepared to tackle cybersecurity challenges more effectively. Singapore’s proposed Cyber Security Bill will offer a good template. A new cybersecurity law would enable India to protect critical infrastructure more effectively. It would also empower cybersecurity agencies to manage incidents quickly and mandate reporting of significant cybersecurity incidents. Additionally, it would create a stronger cybersecurity culture among businesses and Indian government agencies.

Establishing a national cybersecurity command center, such as the recently announced National Cyber Security Center created by IBM for Australia, would boost India’s cybersecurity defenses, make Indian businesses globally competitive and create a safer Digital India.

Download the 2016 Ponemon Institute Cost of Data Breach Study: India

More from Data Protection

3 Strategies to overcome data security challenges in 2024

3 min read - There are over 17 billion internet-connected devices in the world — and experts expect that number will surge to almost 30 billion by 2030.This rapidly growing digital ecosystem makes it increasingly challenging to protect people’s privacy. Attackers only need to be right once to seize databases of personally identifiable information (PII), including payment card information, addresses, phone numbers and Social Security numbers.In addition to the ever-present cybersecurity threats, data security teams must consider the growing list of data compliance laws…

How data residency impacts security and compliance

3 min read - Every piece of your organization’s data is stored in a physical location. Even data stored in a cloud environment lives in a physical location on the virtual server. However, the data may not be in the location you expect, especially if your company uses multiple cloud providers. The data you are trying to protect may be stored literally across the world from where you sit right now or even in multiple locations at the same time. And if you don’t…

From federation to fabric: IAM’s evolution

15 min read - In the modern day, we’ve come to expect that our various applications can share our identity information with one another. Most of our core systems federate seamlessly and bi-directionally. This means that you can quite easily register and log in to a given service with the user account from another service or even invert that process (technically possible, not always advisable). But what is the next step in our evolution towards greater interoperability between our applications, services and systems?Identity and…

Topic updates

Get email updates and stay ahead of the latest threats to the security landscape, thought leadership and research.
Subscribe today