MEITY launches Cyber Surakshit Bharat to strengthen Cybersecurity

Recognizing the need to strengthen the cybersecurity ecosystem in India, and in alignment with the Honourable Prime Minister’s vision for a ‘Digital India’, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), announced the Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative in association with National e-Governance Division (NeGD) and industry partners at an inaugural event in Delhi today. K J Alphons, Honourable Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology and Tourism (Independent Charge), inaugurated the initiative in the presence of Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Suresh Chandra, Secretary, Ministry of Law & Justice, Sanjeev Gupta, President & CEO, Digital India Corporation, Anant Maheshwari, President – Microsoft India, Ms. Debjani Ghosh, President Designate, NASSCOM, Rakesh Maheshwari, Group Coordinator (Cyber Security), MeitY, Jayesh Warrier, India Practice Head (CRS), Wipro and Raghuvir HR, Sales Director, Dimension Data, India.

Conceptualized with the mission to spread awareness about cybercrime and building capacity for safety measures for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and frontline IT staff across all government departments, Cyber Surakshit Bharat will be operated on the three principles of Awareness, Education and Enablement. It will include an awareness program on the importance of cybersecurity; a series of workshops on best practices and enablement of the officials with cybersecurity health tool kits to manage and mitigate cyber threats. Cyber Surakshit Bharat is the first public-private partnership of its kind and will leverage the expertise of the IT industry in cybersecurity. The founding partners of the consortium are leading IT companies Microsoft, Intel, WIPRO, Redhat and Dimension Data. Additionally, knowledge partners include Cert-In, NIC, NASSCOM and the FIDO Alliance and premier consultancy firms Deloitte and EY.

Speaking at the event Minister K J Alphons, Honourable Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology and Tourism (Independent Charge) said, “Securing the nation’s cyberspace is vital for achieving the Honourable Prime Minister’s vision of a Digital India. The fruits of development must reach the last man out there. The Digital India has led to a rapid transformation in the governance system. To ensure good governance, the private corporate sector must come forward.”

“Today, India is home to over 118 crore Aadhaar accounts, providing people with a unique identity. We have opened 30 crore bank accounts for the poor and underprivileged section of the society and linked those with Aadhaar. So far the Government has transferred subsidies worth 2.40 lakh crore to the Jan Dhan accounts linked with Aaddaar, thereby saving over 60,000 crore, which would earlier go to the middlemen. As we are moving towards that ecosystem, we also must ensure that our systems are protected and our data is secured. Keeping this concern in mind, the government has launched the Cyber Surakshit Bharat, with a primary objective to keep our data safe and protected. The best brains in both the government and corporate sector must come together to ensure a safe a secure cyberspace. I am happy that today we have CISOs in many institutions, we have them in as many as 60 ministries and departments of the government of India; 230 banks and 45 other financial institutions have CISOs to protect their data and systems. We must not forget that there is a bunch of smart individuals out there who are trying to steal our data, and to outsmart them we all have to work together towards building a robust cyber security system that keeps all these confidential information protected.” Added Alphons.