A peak into the IT security scene in India

MUMBAI, INDIA: It's the IT industry that made India world famous in the past three decades or so. But today the same IT industry as well as many large, mid and small businesses, banks and governmental organizations that run using IT as a backbone are facing tough task of securing their IT infrastructure, networks, data, protecting identity, preventing cyber crime, website hacking and virus attacks and so forth.

It's an irony that the country which is considered as power house in IT and business process services and software application developments – is staring at the tall order of shielding IT assets and defending businesses.

So what are reasons behind such a vulnerable state of IT security in India?

According to Rajat Khare, Appin Technologies' CEO and director, there are three key reasons to prevailing vulnerable state of IT security that includes lack of awareness about IT security, weaker IT and cyber criminal laws and also non-availability of IT security personnel and experts along low investments in IT.

“Knowledge on IT security is low and the domain knowledge and expertise vary even in the top IT firms to government organizations to all the way down in any small business led by individuals. The governments and enforcement agencies don't have stricter compliances and regulations and IT laws, compared to other countries like US, UK and European regions,” Khare says.

Further Khare points, “When it comes to IT investments, businesses largely take into account the IT infrastructure, hardware and security devices. While these equipments are integral part of IT security, they need a strong support and management of security personnel and experts.”

Khare's Appin Technologies is part of the Appin Security group which specializes in corporate IT, data and website security. He reckons, in India, mostly individual cases related to hacking and other type of cyber crimes are reported, while such incidents at corporate levels in banks and large organizations are not properly reported.

In Khare’s view, the activities related to cyber crimes are gradually get organized as in the Western world. “About 80 percent of net banking users are unaware about the identity thefts and people are not serious about security. While Reserve Bank of India issues various guidelines and regulation for banking industry, these norms are not at par with the banking systems in UK and US.”

The kind of IT security, compliance and regulations followed by Indian banks and financial firms are very basic in nature, Khare points. According to him, US banks follow a strict auditing and compliance from security standpoint but in India this is not followed by Indian banks.

But in coming years, this trend will change, Khare hopes that adhering to strong security compliance will become mandatory across banks and businesses, and websites will have comply by the norms.

While Indian government has amended the Information Technology Act 2000, Khare comments, “Overall, the IT industry is very dynamic that undergoes rapid technology related changes from time to time. So if the act continues to be amended in the slow bureaucratic way then it will have many implications. And it requires technology experts to review it annually.” He says, there’s no mention of crimes like mobile hacking in the current IT act.

According to industry reports, the security market crossed over a billion dollar during 2008-09 and is growing at 30 per cent annually.

Moreover, about IT security, Khare explains that it is a specialty field, which needs highly skilled professionals who have domain knowledge to provide IT security services. But the fact of the matter is there’s low supply of IT security professionals in India as against its demand.

“These IT security professionals need a strong cross platform training that includes knowledge of IT security policies as well as compliance. So IT companies will need services of security experts,” he adds.

Name
Email
Comment Here
Code Verification

Indian PC market grew 6.6 p.c. in Q1: Gartner

Microsoft Office for Android tabs soon?

Twitter tweaks privacy policy, adds transparency

Bharti Airtel adds 2 mn mobile users in April

Save petrol and money with this Android App

Why 122,680 Facebookers 'like' Nirmal Baba?

Do you think IT employees need unions?

Book your trip to Vaishno Devi online

Can Aamir Khan bring down female foeticide?

DataWind terms Aakash II launch a revolution

Subscribe to PCQuest for iPad & Android tablets

Register Free at DQ Top 20 Online portal & get insights on the Indian IT Industry

Enterprise IT News and Analysis in your inbox

Subscribe to the free PCQuest newsletter

Do you think IT employees need unions?

Arun and Cipla - no ladders, no snakes

Cyber attacks: Have India's neighbours turned culprits?

Personal cloud will eclipse PC: Gartner

SMEs don't give much importance to security

Sponsored Links

Custom Site

Demo Downloads On :

1-Click News Updates