Union Government unveils steps to boost cybersecurity

November 12, 2016

Union Government has unveiled a slew of measures in an attempt to strengthen cyber security in India.
It was announced by the Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad at the Economic Editors’ Conference-2016. The conference was organised by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) in collaboration with the Union Ministry of Finance in New Delhi.
What are the steps undertaken to strengthen cyber security?

  • Central Government is taking measure to strengthen Cert-IN (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team), the governments’ cyber security arm
  • Mandatory for all organisations having a significant IT infrastructure will need to appoint cyber security officers.
  • State Certs are being planned by Maharashtra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Jharkhand.
  • Three sectoral Certs in power sector viz. generation, transmission and distribution also have been set up in addition to the existing banking sector one.
  • National cyber coordination centre (NCCC) is being set up to provide near real time situational awareness and rapid response. This project will be completed in 5 years at a cost of Rs 985 crore.
  • The Phase 1 of NCCC is expected to be operational by March 2017. The Central Government will also launch Botnet Center shortly.

About CERT-In (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team)

  • CERT-In is a government-mandated nodal agency for information technology (IT) security established in 2004.
  • It is nodal department under the aegis of the Indian Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Electronics and IT.
  • According to the provisions of the IT Amendment Act, 2008, CERT-In is responsible for overseeing administration of the Act.
  • Purpose of CERT-In: (i) Protect Indian cyberspace and software infrastructure against destructive and hacking activities. (ii) Respond to computer security incidents, report on vulnerabilities and promote effective IT security practices throughout the country.
  • (iii) Issue guidelines, vulnerability notes, advisories, and whitepapers regarding to information security practices, prevention, procedures, response and reporting of cyber security incidents.
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