Special Feature Feature cyber security Special
99 Percent Indian IT
Engineers Lack Secure Programming Skills
T
hough the country boasts of producing the maximum number of engineering talent in the world, only 1 percent of Indian IT students have been found skilled in the information security space. According to a study done by ECCouncil, a global certification body for information security professionals, nearly 86% of student IT talent pool in India displays no awareness of cyber security basics; while a mere 13% was found to be trainable in the space. “This is very alarming news to the country’s corporate and defence establishments. India is known as the software and outsourcing capital of the world. However, recent industry data shows how vulnerable the Indian IT industry is. Lack of skills in both working professionals as well as students is a major area of concern for the nation,” says Amit kumar, president and co-founder, cyberfort . Cyberfort Technologies is one of the fastest emerging IT security and consulting firm in the most emerging field of Cyber Security. It is a venture of IIT alumni, Management Professionals from the Top Colleges of India and seasonal professionals from IBM, CISCO, WIPRO, DATTO and Converges. Established in the year 2013, awarded by the IT minister of Hyderabad for its innovative teaching and eclectic learning methodology imbibe with technology. In a very short span of time the company recognized for conducting various Cyber security courses and projects on new dimension of information technology. Other than providing niche and hi-tech certification courseware globally via vir-
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December 2013 / digitalLEARNING
Amit Kumar
tual and instructor led teaching modules, it also has strategic alliance with Mahatma Gandhi University (UGC-AICTE-DEC) and EC-Council (world largest certification body for cyber security professionals) for imparting high quality post graduate and professional certifications in Ethical Hacking and Information Security. While the study is indicative of the fact that when the current curriculum has some introductory topics on the subject, focus via its inclusion as a separate subject is missing. India declared its first national cyber security policy in July this year, which aims to create 5 lakh information security professionals over next five years. “Given the fact the 86% of the current IT talent has no awareness of cyber security, the role of academia becomes all the more challenging,” says Amit.
In a recent move to up the ante on cyber security, the government has hired 4,446 experts. However, the number is miniscule compared to the increasing number of attacks on websites every month. Financial institutions, telecom, mobility, internet organisations and hospitals are more vulnerable to cyber threats today, because of the data they handle. According to reports by CERT-In, 4,191 Indian websites were hacked in the month of August this year, up from 1,808 in May this year. In fact, corporates too agree that they have a tough time filling up positions in the information security space. “It is difficult to find basic engineering talent, let alone talent in information security space. The problem is not with students, but the whole system. You can’t expect them to be good at something they are not taught,” says the CFO of an IT company who did not wish to be named. “The world is recognising vulnerabilities, leading to cyber threats and attacks. India holds a key position in the global IT and IT-enabled services map. Every country is taking steps towards building a talent pipeline towards a secure future and we urge Indian industry and academia to address the concerns to retain their leadership in the domain,” Dr Rajesh kumar VP cyberfort said.
What Is Infosec? Information security is the practice of protecting information from unauthorised access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, perusal, inspection, recording or destruction. Protecting confi-