The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Global centre for cyber security on the anvil

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Friday, Mar 14, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Global centre for cyber security on the anvil

Special Correspondent

It will research and develop appropriate technologies for data security

— Photo: M. Vedhan

COLLABORATIVE EFFORT: P. Rajendran, DGP, greeting Lakshmi Narayanan, chairman, NASSCOM, at a seminar in Chennai on Thursday. Nandkumar Saravade, director, cyber security and compliance, NASSCOM, and C. Chandramouli, IT Secretary, are in the picture.

CHENNAI: An international centre for cyber security will come up at Taramani in Chennai to engage in research and development of appropriate technologies for data security, IT Secretary C. Chandramouli said on Thursday.

Participating in a NASSCOM-initiated meeting on ‘Cyber Safe Chennai 2008,’ Mr. Chandramouli said the government had allotted land for the centre that will be attached to the Society for Electronic Transactions and Security (SETS) here.

SETS is an information security organisation in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode and will involve a collaborative effort of professionals from institutions from India and abroad.

Common code sought

Mr. Chandramouli called for a series of engagements between law enforcement authorities and experts from the IT industry to formulate a common code of practices that would make the Internet safer to transact business and input personal data.

“There is need for continuous dialogue and engagement between law enforcement agencies and the IT industry for a cyber safe Tamil Nadu.” This is especially critical during the State’s increasing transition into an e-governed State, he said.

Mr. Chandramouli called for evolving a ‘data security best practices manual’ for implementation across the IT/BPO industry. Pointing out that an assessment some time ago of Tidel Park companies had shown that only the larger firms had a code of good practices, he urged small and medium scale IT companies to evolve a similar code.

Closer collaboration

The stakeholders at the NASSCOM meeting agreed that closer collaboration between law enforcement and the IT industry was inevitable against a context of swelling Internet clientele, increasing consumer demand for round-the-clock online services and a shift towards e-governance transactions. Chief Security Officers would also meet periodically to discuss and resolve data security concerns, it was decided.

Inaugurating the event, Director General of Police P. Rajendran said the IT growth story had also brought along with it a realisation in the industry about the need to be more guarded against online fraud as a single act of crime could devastate a company’s global operations.

The purpose of the cyber safety awareness campaign launched by the police and NASSCOM is to spread the message of cyber safety and IT security across user communities, he said. He also stressed the importance of training initiatives for the police department’s cyber wings to foil cutting edge crimes perpetrated by “a new generation of offenders, who are not only intelligent but invisible as well.”

NASSCOM chairman Lakshmi Narayanan said amid the focus on the growth in the IT/BPO sectors a quiet revolution had taken place in the emergence of a 24/7 world in place of the traditional 9 to 5 time cycle for business transactions.

While a few sectors such as police, aviation, hospital and hospitality were already functioning round-the-clock, the IT industry was only coming to grips with the new reality. As financial services integrated with the global economy, there was a demand for any-time web-based transactions from anywhere in the world, he said.

Noting that the tendency to hack had grown alongside the enabling role of technology, Mr. Lakshmi Narayanan said it was now possible to use a virus to throw a digital pacemaker into malfunction and put the life of the implantee at risk. “The important first step towards protection from white collar crimes that compromise intellectual property rights is awareness and better preparedness.”

Nandkumar Saravade, Director, Cyber Security and Compliance, NASSCOM and K. Purushothaman, regional director, participated.

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