16-Dec-2021: India- Vietnam signs agreement to extend cooperation in the field of Information Technology
H.E. Nguyen Manh Hung, Minister for Information and Communications, Vietnam today visited the Ministry of Electronics & IT, Government of India and met Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology & Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar. They exchanged views on various initiatives being taken by the two countries to boost digital economy and agreed to further enhance ICT Trade & cooperation between the two sides.
An agreement to extend India- Vietnam MoU on cooperation in the field of Information Technology was also signed by the two Ministers during the visit. The MoU intends to foster active cooperation and exchange between private entities, Governments, institutions involved in enhancing capacity building and other public and private organizations of the two countries in the field of ICT.
Minister Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar mentioned that India under Digital India Programme has made some rapid digitalization efforts in the last 19 months to overcome the distress caused by COVID-19 pandemic. India’s IT services sector, Digital Government initiatives and the fast emerging tech startup ecosystem have shown resilience and maturity not only to meet the challenges of this pandemic but are now role models for other developing and less developed countries.
The two Ministers agreed that though there has been an active engagement between India and Vietnam over the last few years but there are vast possibilities to explore for further cooperation. The similar objectives of Digital transformation under Digital India programme& Digital transformation Vietnam can further enhance cooperation and digital trade between the two sides.
16-Dec-2021: MeitY organises 25th CISO Deep Dive Training program under Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative
With an aim to strengthen the cyber security ecosystem in Government organizations in the country, the National e-Governance Division under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is conducting a six-day deep dive training program for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and frontline IT officials from various Ministries & Departments, Government & Semi-Government organisations from Central and State Governments, PSUs, banks, among others.
The training program is a part of a series of workshops organised by the National e-Governance Division at MeitY under the Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative. It will help the CISOs and other participants to equip themselves with better understanding of the emerging cyber threat landscape, understand best practices in cyber security so that they are able to translate the benefits of a secure cyber space to individual organisations and citizens at large.
At the inaugural session of the capacity building program, Ms. Tulika Pandey, Director, Cyber Security Division, MeitY explained how the role of CISOs is critical for maintaining and updating the cyber threat landscape for an organisation and how the deep dive training program can equip them to perform their duties better.
In this deep dive training, security experts from industry as well as Government will talk about how to secure the IT infrastructure and also adopt best practices to safeguard the IT infrastructure, Ms. Tulika Pandey said.
“It is expected that the training will provide necessary exposure to latest tools and technologies in the cyber security and requirement for legal compliance. The knowledge gained during training can help you to prepare cyber security policies and Cyber Crisis Management Plan for respective organizations,” she added.
Meanwhile, Shri Amitesh Kumar Sinha, IRAS, Joint Secretary, e-Governance, MeitY, talked about the need to use emerging technologies like Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, and data analytics in cyber security to secure IT infrastructure.
“In these past years, cyber-attacks have been increasing. In 2019, there were 3,94,499 attacks which increased to 11,58,208 attacks in 2020. And in 2021, we have already witnessed 6,07,220 cyber-attacks,” he said.
“Cyber fraudsters are using the COVID-19 pandemic as a cyber-attack vector for their own notorious gains. During the COVID-19 time, there has been a surge in cyber incidences. The primary set of attacks has been phishing attacks to steal information and drop malware. The attackers devise new strategies to target victims with scams or malware campaigns. This workshop is an opportunity to understand how you should approach this entire problem,” Shri Amitesh Kumar Sinha added.
He also appreciated the National e-Governance Division and MeitY for their role in improving India’s international ranking in Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI). “India is ranked among top 10 countries in cyber security posture for the year 2020 out of 182 countries. India has jumped from 47th position in the year 2018 to 10th position in the year 2020. The improvement in the ranking of GCI of India is possible because of different corrective measures undertaken by the Government. This is a significant jump for cyber preparedness of the country and I must congratulate to all who are involved with cyber security in the country,” he said.
To empower the CISOs with the emerging challenges of cyber security and train them to meet the challenges, MeitY had initiated the Cyber Surakshit Programme in January 2018 with active support of industry consortium. The objective of the programme is to train 1200 CISOs and frontline IT officials from Central and State Government, PSUs, Banks and government organizations.
From June 2018 till November 2021, 24 batches of training have already been conducted and around 977 CISOs and other front line IT officials from Central and State Governments, PSUs, Banks and Government organizations have been trained.
The program is being conducted from December 13 - 18, 2021 and will cover topics such as Governance Risk & Compliance and Data Privacy, Network Security, End Point Security, Application & Data Security, Cloud Security, Mobile Security, Cryptography, Cyber Security related provisions in IT Act, Security audit, guidelines for preparing CCMP and operation and monitoring of Security Operation Centre (SoC) etc.
