NASSCOM Sets-Up Cyber Security Task Force to Build India as the Cyber Security Hub

• Task force in accordance with the Prime Minister’s vision for India to take  leadership in this critical and emerging space

• Focus on building key recommendations on the four pillars of Industry + Policy + Technology + Skills

National Association of Software and Services Companies(NASSCOM) and Data Security Council of India today announced the launch of the NASSCOM Cyber Security Task Force that aims to build India as a global hub for providing cyber security solutions, developing cyber security R&D plan and develop a skilled workforce of cyber security experts.

The taskforce members include industry leaders across IT, BPM and Internet, leaders from user organizations like banks and telcos as well as representatives from the government and academia. Mr. Rajendra Pawar, Chairman, NIIT was requested to chair this taskforce. The taskforce over a 12 week period will identify the key priorities and build the detailed action plan for the sector.

Mr. Rajendra Pawar, Chair, NASSCOM Cyber Security Task Force and Chairman, NIIT, said, “Securing the cyberspace has become an important priority for governments, businesses and citizens across the world. In line with the Prime Minister’s vision of making India a cyber-security expert nation and his recent exhortation to the industry, we have created the cyber security task force. This taskforce aims to make India a global hub for providing cyber security solutions including cyber security products and services. The taskforce will focus on the four key pillars of Industry development, Policy enablement, Technology development and Skill development.”

Mr. Mohan Reddy, Chairman, NASSCOM said “Cyber Security is an important priority for NASSCOM. This Task Force will study the Indian cyber security ecosystem to identify issues and challenges and develop an action plan to address the priority issues. It will also identify possible intervention opportunities for the Indian IT industry in global cyber security space and bring together stakeholders from across the board to develop cutting-edge technologies and address the global market requirements. Learnings from global countries will be undertaken to understand how to catalyse the security product ecosystem in India”.

Mr. R. Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM, said, “Cybersecurity is a multi-dimensional concept which includes many disciplines and fields. Nations have to take appropriate steps in their respective jurisdictions to create necessary laws, promote the implementation of requisite security practices, incident management, and information sharing mechanisms, and continuously educate both corporate and home users about cybersecurity. It is a global problem that has to be addressed by all stakeholders jointly. This Task Force will work towards enhancing cyber security and enabling India to emerge as a leader in this space.”

Mr. Gopal Pillai, former Home Secretary and Chairman, DSCI said “Cyber Security has emerged as a key facet of national security. This initiative by NASSCOM and DSCI is an important effort aimed at optimizing the role of industry in this space, both at the national and international levels.”

The vision of the Taskforce aims to build the cyber security industry in India from the 1 percent market share to 10 percent by 2025; a trained base of 1 million certified and skilled cyber security professionals and build 100+ successful security product companies from India.

About NASSCOM:

NASSCOM® is the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of the IT-BPO industries in India. NASSCOM is a global trade body with more than 1400 members, which include both Indian and multinational companies that have a presence in India. NASSCOM's member and associate member companies are broadly in the business of software development, software services, software products, consulting services, BPM services, e-commerce & web services, engineering services off-shoring and animation and gaming. NASSCOM’s membership base constitutes over 95% of the industry revenues in India and employs over 2.24 million professionals.

About DSCI:

DSCI is a focal body on data protection in India, setup as an independent Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO) by NASSCOM®, to promote data protection, develop security and privacy best practices & standards and encourage the Indian industries to implement the same. DSCI is engaged with the Indian IT/BPO industry, their clients worldwide, Banking and Telecom sectors, industry associations, data protection authorities and other government agencies in different countries. It conducts industry wide surveys and publishes reports, organizes data protection awareness seminars, workshops, projects, interactions and other necessary initiatives for outreach and public advocacy. DSCI is focused on capacity building of Law Enforcement Agencies for combating cyber crimes in the country and towards this; it operates several Cyber labs across India to train police officers, prosecutors and judicial officers in cyber forensics.