Government releases National Cyber Security Policy 2013

The government today announced the National Cyber Security Policy 2013, a set of action plans that aims at protecting the country's information system and building up capabilities to prevent cyber attacks.

The National Cyber Security Policy 2013, announced by minister of communications and information technology Kapil Sibal, aims at safeguarding both physical and business assets of the country.

While the cyber security policy approved in May this year recognises the need to put in place a comprehensive action plan to address the issue from all sides, the policy announced today is not comprehensive. It proposes to set up different bodies to deal with various levels of threat in the country alongside a national nodal agency.

Under the new policy announced today, the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) will set up a new agency called National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) that will work 24x7 to ward off cyber attacks in strategic areas such as air-control, nuclear, space etc. The existing agency, CERT, will handle all public and private infrastructure.

"The policy is a framework document and it gives you a broad outline of what our vision is...The real task or the challenge is the operationalisation of this policy," Sibal said while releasing the document.

Sibal said there would be a mechanism for sharing information, identifying and responding to cyber security incidents and for cooperation in restoration efforts.

Under the policy, the government will also provide financial incentives to businesses to adopt best security practices. It also aims at creating a workforce of around 5,00,000 trained personnel in cyber security.

Gulshan Rai, director general of CERT, said the government would also set up testing labs to regularly check the safety of equipment being used.

The cyber policy has become necessary in the wake of possible attacks from both state and non-state actors, corporates and terrorists as the internet world has no geographical barriers and was anonymous in nature, Sibal said

There could be multiple centres from where cyber attacks could take place and it may involve individuals, sections of society, businesses, terrorists, drug dealers and those who want to generate violence, he said, adding that it will not be from any particular country because it will difficult in the cyberspace to figure it out.

"In the ultimate analysis, we have to develop global standards because there is no way that we can have a policy within the context of India which is not connected with the rest of the world because information knows no territorial boundaries," Sibal added.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's Committee on the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) met on Monday to review the progress of implementation of NeGP.

The NeGP, approved by the government in May 2006, aims at making all government services accessible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency and reliability of such services at affordable costs.

The NeGP is based on the recommendations of two expert groups headed by Nandan Nilekani and Sam Pitroda. The meeting reviewed the implementation of the recommendations of these committees.

The committee also deliberated upon the status of implementation of mission mode projects and the level of orientation amongst the e-governance initiatives in the country.