Digital threat: Govt needs to shore up cybersecurity infrastructure

India has a very poor record with respect to keeping its cyber infrastructure and data safe, and it is regularly targeted by Pakistani and Chinese hackers

Given the strong emphasis on the Digital India Initiative and the massive reliance on information technology (IT) to run key policy measures, such as the goods and services tax, and policy tools, such as Aadhaar, reliable cyber infrastructure is of critical importance. The defence and security establishments, too, rely heavily on digital platforms. However, a series of hacks and outages of government websites highlights the fact that cybersecurity is not taken as seriously as it should be. The latest major incident occurred on April 6 when at least 10 government websites, including those of the ministries of defence and home