10% of IT budget should be used for cybersecurity: Rear Admiral Mohit Gupta

The government should start using 10 per cent of the total IT budget for cybersecurity said Rear Admiral Mohit Gupta Chief of Defence Cyber Agency of India on Thursday.

Gupta who is heading Defence Cyber Agency of India stressed bringing in the Cybersecurity Act to improve the cybersecurity system of the country.

"The present IT act does not talk much about cybersecurity hence there should be a cybersecurity act in the country, it can be either part of present IT act or maybe a new act can be created. The government should start using 10 per cent of the total IT budget for cybersecurity," Gupta said at his seminar in Pune's MILIT (Military Institute of Technology).

He also spoke about the importance of cybersecurity in education he said, "Cybersecurity should be part of the school curriculum and HRD ministry should consider this. There is a need to set up centres of excellence to train cyber professionals."

"The new cybersecurity policy will be tabled by the end of this year and the tenure of this policy will be of five years based on the UK model. Freedom for active defence and the digital tribunal to take up the digital crimes related cases are the other important things he focused upon which he says we are expecting from a new cybersecurity policy," Gupta added.

As per the data available presently India stands second in the list of victims for cyber attack cases between the period of 2015-2017 and with recent initiatives of Indian government like 'Digital India' everything has now come under cyberspace hence there is a serious need to have cyber defence strategy.

Rear Admiral Gupta was speaking at CAPSTAR seminar on Military Robotics Autonomous systems and artificial intelligence in MILIT(Military Institute Of Technology) Pune. He was appointed as the head of Defence Cyber Agency which will be set up in November this year.