It will focus on industry, government, academia & research and development, user groups and collaborations across geographies
Hyderabad: The Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence (CCoE), a joint initiative of Government of Telangana and Data Security Council of India (DSCI) inaugurated a new CoE at Manjeera Trinity Corporate in Hyderabad on Tuesday, coinciding with the Data Privacy Day. The 6,000 sq ft facility will serve as the epicentre of cybersecurity activity and development in the State.
The centre will focus on creating a strong ecosystem for cybersecurity and privacy. It will have a training room to conduct knowledge and training sessions for the industry, government departments, academia and R&D centres and other user groups. The facility is also equipped with a 30-seater incubation zone. The centre also has an ‘Experience Zone’ to facilitate live sessions and product demos for cybersecurity.
Dr Sriram Birudavolu, CEO, Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (CoE), DSCI says, “With this facility, we hope to make Telangana the hub for cybersecurity, bringing its capabilities on par with Israel. The CoE will focus on industry, government, academia & research and development, user groups and collaborations across geographies. We are forging collaborations with Russia, UK, Netherlands and Canada. Partnerships will also be with T-Hub, Ftcci, Ficci and CII. We would want technology companies to set up global cybersecurity centres in Hyderabad so that we can collectively create a vibrant ecosystem.”
Speaking on the occasion, Rama Vedashree, CEO, DSCI, said, “We have worked with the Telangana government to create this facility. Unlike industry-centric or academia-centric CoEs, this CoE will catalayse collaboration among all the stakeholders. This will make Telangana the preferred destination in this segment. This is the first State-driven CoE in the country.”
The CoE on Tuesday signed partnerships with CtrlS, UTC, Unify, Zoho, IIT Hyderabad, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Huntmetrics, Mahindra École Centrale, International Institute for Advanced Aerospace Technologies, JNTU and National Payments Corporation of India for wide ranging support areas. The facility is also striving to engage more women in the cybsersecurity space through its Women Cybsersecurity Forum initiative.
Highlighting the strengths of Hyderabad ecosystem, Ajay Prakash Sawhney, secretary, MeiTY said, “Growth of Hyderabad has been fabulous. The city has created 75 million sq ft of office space. The core that drives this growth is the talent, competing with the global technology hubs. There is no dearth of talent here. Telangana has been a leading State in chasing opportunities in IT, electronics or any sector.”
Speaking at the inaugural, Jayesh Ranjan, principal secretary, IT, Government of Telangana said, Telangana is one of the first States in the country to come out with a policy on cybersecurity. The State is keen to promote advanced level of research and innovation and capacity building. Large companies such as Novartis and Deloitte have set up global cybersecurity centres among 20 such centres that operate in Hyderabad today.
Rajendra Pawar, chair of CCoE Governing Council said, “There are 11 partnerships signed already by the centre and four startups have joined the incubator. By 2025, we expect the cybsersecurity segment to contribute $3 billion in Telangana employing about one lakh people and this centre will play a key role in that.”
‘India is the most attacked country in the world’
Hyderabad: India is the most attacked country in the world in terms of cyber-attacks due to its large internet user base, estimated at 60 crore. Many States in India haven’t yet opened cybercrime cells and security operations centres. In addition to IT network, internet of things driven by 5G will emerge as a major threat impacting multiple devices in future, said Lt. Gen. Rajesh Pant, National Cyber Security Coordinator, National Security Council Secretariat.
The country is building resilience and does maintain good cybersecurity hygiene. National Technical Research Organisation is overseeing security aspects related to critical infrastructure, Ministry of Home affairs is handling cybercrime, Computer Emergency Response Team under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is overseeing incident response, Ministry of Defence is handling Defence Cyber Agency and MHRD is taking care of capacity building.
“With the increasing concerns over data and privacy, India has been working on its Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill. It has gone to the Standing Committee of Parliament now and in one of the sessions this year, it will get through. There are a lot of provisions in this Bill. First thing that will happen here is that a Data Protection Authority of India will be created and it will have a chair person with full-time numbers, who will be given 3-4 months time to define what is sensitive data and what is critical data, what needs to be within the country and what can be shared with other countries. They will be given 1-2 years to implement the law. This Bill is very important as it will define who will own data and who cannot,” he added.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the inauguration of Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence (CCoE) in Hyderabad, he said, one of the biggest challenges in cybercrime is its attribution (traceability) and level of legal agreements a nation has with other countries in the world to share data.
He said, “At the national level, Prime Minister is aiming for a $5 trillion economy by 2024. India is aiming for a 9 per cent GDP growth. Going by the World Economic Forum’s outlook that points out cybercrime can take as much as 2 per cent of a nation’s GDP, which for India means Rs 2 lakh crore. To combat cybercrime, we need to come out with innovative solutions. Such solutions can come from technology hubs such as Hyderabad as they have come from Israel.”
Ajay Prakash Sawhney, secretary, MeiTY, said, India is aiming for 400 per cent growth in digital economy to reach $1 trillion by 2024 from $200 billion in 2017-18. Use of digital in traditional sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, energy and transport will bring this growth.
