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The country’s national cybersecurity strategy is reportedly under consideration at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) currently, National Cybersecurity Coordinator Lt. General (Retd) Rajesh Pant said on Friday (July 1).

Pant made the comments while speaking at an event organised by Microsoft and the Indian Future Foundation.

“We are all waiting for the National Cybersecurity Strategy. It is currently in the PMO,” Moneycontrol reported Pant as saying. “In fact, when the Prime Minister went to Germany G7 (the G7 summit), he asked for a briefing on the flight on the strategy. This is the interest that he is taking,” he added.

Pant also said that the National Malware Repository would likely be launched on August 3, adding that the repository already has 90 million malware samples under its belt.

Pant also said that the government is mulling setting up a National Cyber Registry (NCR). “So we intend to create an NCR of human resources. In the same registry, you will find indigenous tools and the products that are already available. So that there is no duplication in case somebody wants to develop something. They can have a look at that and then do something else,” he was quoted as saying. 

The National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) had suggested the creation of a similar platform back in 2015. It had then proposed a platform that would connect IT professionals with various government agencies. However, the plan never materialised.

India’s Much Touted Cybersecurity Strategy

The much-awaited policy has been pending for the past two years. The strategy was formulated by the Data Security Council of India (DSCI) in 2020 and focused on 21 broad areas to build a safe and secure cyberspace in the country.

The strategy sought to build institutional capabilities for timely reporting of vulnerabilities and their resolution. The report also called for protecting critical information infrastructure as well as developing security standards and framework for adoption of Internet of Things (IoT).

It sought a minimum allocation of 0.25% in the Union Budget and setting up of a fund of funds for cybersecurity.

India has seen a major uptick in cyber security-related attacks that have targeted key critical infrastructure recently.

In March this year, the government informed the Parliament that the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) reported more than 14.02 Lakhs cyber security related incidents last year. It also added that more than 2.12 Lakh such incidents were also reported in the first two months of 2022.

A slew of critical infrastructure in the country has been targeted by cyberattackers in the last couple of years. 

According to a report, Indian oil companies faced 3.6 lakh cyberattacks between October 2021 and April 12, 2022. In April, Oil India Limited’s headquarter in Assam’s Dibrugarh district faced a major ransomware attack which led to the shutdown of all its computers and IT systems.

In February last year, it was reported that hackers stole the personal data of 4.5 Mn Air India passengers. In November 2021, a cybersecurity firm claimed that the personal and financial information of nearly 180 Mn PNB customers was left exposed for 7 months.