Govt preps up for cybersecurity policy upgrade, invites suggestions

India is ready to update its cybersecurity policy, and as a first step towards formulating the new document “National Cybersecurity Strategy 2020,” the government is inviting suggestions from the citizens.

“The Indian Government under the aegis of National Security Council Secretariat through a well-represented Task Force is in the process of formulating the National Cyber Security Strategy 2020 (NCSS 2020) to cater for a time horizon of five years (2020-25),” the National Cyber Security Strategy (NCSS) website, which is now open for submission of comments, says.  

The last date for submission is December 31. 

The proposed vision of the upcoming policy is “to ensure a safe, secure, trusted, resilient and vibrant cyber space for our nation’s prosperity”. 

India’s recently-appointed national cybersecurity coordinator Rajesh Pant on several occasions has mentioned about the draft.

The last cybersecurity policy was released in 2013, and has been panned by experts in the past for being inadequate in addressing the growing cyber threats.

“The present cyber threat landscape poses challenges due to rapid technological developments. New challenges include data protection/privacy, law enforcement in evolving cyberspace, access to data stored overseas, misuse of social media platforms, international cooperation on cybercrime & cyber terrorism, and so on. Threats from organised cybercriminal groups, technological cold wars, and increasing state sponsored cyber-attacks have also emerged,” the NCSS website says. 

Gearing up

• Before formulating new cybersecurity policy, govt is asking for comments

• Last date for submission of comments is December 31

• Proposed vision is ‘to ensure a safe, secure, resilient and vibrant cyber space for our nation’s prosperity’

• Last policy was released in 2013, and has been panned by experts for being inadequate to address growing cyber threats