Cisco to set up cyber security centres, partners CERT-In

Networking giant Cisco will set up cyber security centres in Gurgaon and Pune to help monitor threats in real-time as well as train people, including government officials to combat these challenges.
The US-based company has inked a pact with CERT-In for strategic cyber security cooperation, which will focus on skilling and sharing of information and best practices to enhance awareness and digital security readiness.
"In light of rapidly evolving cyber tactics and shared risks in cyberspace, the need to work side-by-side with industry partners on pressing cyber challenges becomes increasingly important," Minister of Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

He added that collaboration with Cisco will help enhance the security of India's digital infrastructure and speed up digitalisation of India.
"I am very happy to know they are setting up fund to ecnourage start-ups who are working in the field of cyber security. We are encouraging cyber payment in a big way. We all need to work together to plug the cyber security gaps in existence," he said.
Cisco President India and SAARC Dinesh Malkani said these efforts are part of company's USD 100 million investment commitment to India.

"These efforts are more important in the light of government's push towards digital transactions. By 2020, India's digital payments industry is expected to grow 10X to reach USD 500 billion," he said.

Cisco will launch a Security Operations Centre (SOC) in Pune to provide a broad range of services, including monitoring of threats and its end-to-end management for enterprise needs. It will be linked to other Cisco SOCs across the world.
The Security and Trust Office (STO) in Gurgaon will advise on and help the Indian government shape the national cyber security strategy and initiatives. This is the third STO for Cisco, after France and Germany.
Cisco and CERT-In will work together on threat intelligence sharing, wherein personnel from Cisco and CERT-In will work cooperatively together to address cyber security threats and incidents, identify and shape emerging security market trends, share leading practices, and learn new approaches to enhance cyber security.

The US-based company will also set up a Cyber Range Lab in its Gurgaon facility, which will provide specialised technical training workshops to help security staff build the skills and experience necessary to combat new-age cyber threats.
It will simulate an environment that allows staff to play the role of both attacker and defender to learn the latest methods of vulnerability exploitation and the use of advanced tools and techniques to mitigate and remove threats.
These centres will be fully operational over the next few weeks. Cisco has over 1,000 people working in the area of security working for global operations.