“Independent Yes, Secure Maybe”; says Symantec

As we celebrate another year of independence, from an information technology point of view, it is hard not to notice how we’ve come a long way as a proud nation. From days of the telegram to today’s times of 4G, India has created an infrastructure to match international standards and sustain the country’s ever-expanding ICT needs. It’s incredible how in a relatively short span of time, India has adapted to internet, social media and mobility making us the third largest online user base globally and also overtaking the US as the country with the second largest population of smartphones.

 Sanjay Rohatgi, President-Sales, India, Symantec says, “Thanks to this seamless and burgeoning presence of information technology in India, It’s almost become like a virtual country – a Virtual India whose borders need to be protected as much if not more than the physical borders.  The challenge though is that this Virtual India like any other virtual country has no boundaries, making it vulnerable and exposed to countless destructive and damaging designs of cybercriminals.”

 In 2013, India emerged as one of the key threat frontiers for malicious activities. 69% of the targeted attacks in India were carried out on large enterprises. We saw a record number of mega data breaches worldwide that resulted in millions of identities being exposed. The recent Russian gang which is said to amass more than a billion stolen Internet credentials is yet another case in point. High profile incidents of data breaches, information loss and online fraud only emphasize how often we lose our independence when it comes to information security. 

 As we equip ourselves with transformational Smart Cities and heightened technology adoption, cyber security and resilience will be key to how we fulfill the potential and promise that lies within them. Securing our critical infrastructure and information will need to be at the heart of national security. Only then will India be secure and independent in the true sense.