99% Indian IT students incapable of secure coding: report

By 2015, India needs atleast 500,000 cyber professionals; only under 1% of future It professionals seem to be well versed in IT security

Nearly 99% of Indian information technology (IT) students are incapable of secure programming, a survey conducted by US-based EC-Council (International Council for E-Commerce Consultants) said on Wednesday. The report, 'The Talent Crisis in InfoSec', is based on a sample survey of over 10,000 students from various academic institutions across the country. 

 

'India's talent pipeline in information security skills is at its weakest with just under a percentage of student population in engineering equipped with basic skills in information security,” the report said. “By 2015, India needs at least 500,000 cyber professionals. Yet, only under 1% of future IT professionals seem to be well-trained in information security.”

 

EC-Council is a body which provides certification on information security. It advises governments of more than 30 countries on cyber security-related matters, and is accredited with the US government body for certifying professionals. It has worked with the Pentagon for training hackers for cyber defence.

 

According to the Computer Emergency Response Team of India, the incidences of cyber attacks are on the rise with as many as 4,191 websites hacked in August this year aline. In July this year, 2,380 number of websites were hacked while in June and May those number stood at 2,858 and 1,808 respectively. 

 

The report went on to say that only around 13% of IT students in India have an understanding of concepts, and they can be trained in information security. It stated that over 86% of IT students have not been made aware of skills or are not trainable by companies on cyber security.

 

Additionally, the report suggested that Indian must look at setting up a 'Cyber Command', like the UK, South Korea, China, and the US.