Cyber Security: A Major Focus For Government in Union Budget 2017

The finance minister, Mr Arun Jaitley, made a substantial announcement on enhancing the security of digital transactions and overall cyber security environment in India. Presented below are views from some of the experts on the impact of this announcement on the cyber security scenario in India:

Mr. Pradipto Chakrabarty, Regional Director, CompTIA on Cyber Security
“We already have a Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-in) which reports to the ministry of electronics and IT. We will have to see how different this team will be from CERT-IN. In my opinion one of the key roles of an ideal Computer Emergency Response Team should be complete focus on threat / vulnerability analytics to prevent security lapses through a team of highly trained professionals on information security defense tactics. Also, it should be a nodal agency for a common repository of breach events so that the entire ecosystem can learn from the best practices. The objective of this team (either new or the existing organization) will be all about analytics and defense. ”

Mr. Amit Nath, ‎Head of Asia Pacific – Corporate Business at F-Secure
“The Union Budget 2017 is at par with our expectations. We welcome the move by the Financial Minister meant to strengthen the digital infrastructure in rural India, by allocating INR 10,000 Cr for Bharat Net Project. The same is slated to empower over 150,000 gram panchayats with high speed internet and Wi-Fi hotspots. While this sets the right impetus for rural India to come online, the government has further taken the steps necessary to ensure optimum level of cybersecurity. We especially appreciate the Computer Emergency Response Team to be setup post the budget announcement and dedicatedly monitor cyber hacks, ensuring the security and integrity of online data. The synergy created by these announcements, along with the efforts of cyber security solutions is going to further inspire new users to come online, aiding India’s transition to a digital economy.”

Mr. Sivarama Krishnan, Leader- Cybersecurity, PwC India

“The finance minister announced the proposal for establishing a CERT specifically for the financial services sector, which is aligned to the need of the hour and to steps taken by cyber security leaders. Linking regulatory authorities (SEBI and RBI) will help in the development of more comprehensive guidelines and regulations for financial services companies, significantly strengthen threat information sharing (and consequently detection) and compel them to increase their security spending as the CERT takes shape.

The Government in its current budget announcement has only committed to deliver on its promise of ‘Digital India.’ Certain announcements, such as plans to roll-out 20 lac Aadhaar-based swipe machines, promoting BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money), which already has over 1.25 crore users, and digital systems for payments of Government and defense employees highlight the need for strengthening cyber security in the Government. Measures across multiple areas, such as web application security, device security and secure protocols need to implemented to ensure protection of financial transcations and the Government should develop and release standards for the same. The thrust on Digital India and digital payments both require a focus on cyber security. The financial CERT and the attention towards cyber security in financial budget is in right direction. The implementation of the initiative will help secure Digital India.”