Sebi to beef up against security threats, rope in third-party agencies

The market regulator plans to hire agencies to set up a network and security operation centre

Market regulator Sebi plans to rope in third-party agencies to set up a 'network and security operation centre', which will enable it to effectively detect and protect against security threats including from ransomware.

To provide these services, Sebi has issued a notice inviting expression of interest (EoI) from the interested parties.

This comes at a time when several malware attacks have come to light globally, including in India.

While the stock market has so far not seen any major attack, the exchanges have been repeatedly warning listed companies and various intermediaries to strengthen their systems and keep a constant vigil for all kinds of cyber threats.

In a notice, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said the interested party will be responsible for setting up of state-of-the-art enterprise-wide network and security operation centre (NOC-SOC) and implementation/upgradation of security solutions at the regulator.

The scope of the work includes all the activities related to information security which can form part of NOC-SOC, including anti-phishing, anti-malware, anti-trojan, anti- ransom and implementation of security solutions such as content filter and virtual browsing solutions at Sebi.

The proposed solutions would cover all IT assets of Sebi, including regional and local offices.

The applicant should have registered profit for at least two years during the last three financial years and should have at least three years of experience in implementation and managing security solutions in one of the regulatory bodies, and PSUs.

Among other terms, the bidder should not be a black- listed firm. Interested agencies need to submit application till October 6.