MeitY Asks Ministries To Spend 10% Budget On Cyber Security

Taking into consideration recent cyber attacks like Ransomware and Wannacry, the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has asked all the ministries to spend 10% of their IT budgets on cyber security. Apart from this, it has also proposed the appointment of chief information security officers (CISOs) in every ministry to monitor and safeguard the IT infrastructure of the government bodies.

The MeitY is also planning to set up 10 Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) labs that provide quality assurance services in IT. Talking about the move, Ajay Kumar, additional secretary, MeitY said, “The 10 new labs will be coming up in smaller cities like Visakhapatnam or Amaravati, while two of the existing labs will be upgraded.”

As per another report, the Indian government is also looking to finalise cyber security standards for mobile phones. The decision was made amidst growing political tension with China and reports of data leaks by Chinese phones. The concerns were coupled with the recent cyber breach threats of leaking of financial and personal data.

At a recent event organised by ASSOCHAM, Union Minister for Information Technology and Electronics Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “The products of all mobile manufacturing units must be security-compliant. There will be no compromise on this issue.”

This comes at a time when the Indian government has asked 21 mobile phone manufacturers, most of them Chinese, to outline procedures and processes they have adopted to ensure data security and privacy of users.

Speaking about the emergence of cyber-enabled security testing as an opportunity in India, the Minister said, “We need low-cost cyber technology and low-cost well qualified cyber auditors.”

The Minister added, “We are also insisting that all banks have cyber security auditors. We are unleashing a big challenge to have cyber security training, drills for officers, judges, and policemen.”

With the new guidelines to ministries, MeitY is looking to secure the government bodies against cyber security threats.

(The development was reported by ET)