The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has trained 500 plus employees across 90 missions in Europe and Africa. It aims to ensure the personnel are equipped to deal with both malicious malware and targeted attacks. The Ministry also conducts regular audits to assess how sensitive data centres in different missions can be protected.
It has been said that, “These audits were earlier conducted by visiting the site, but now we are focused on training as we couldn’t visit the centres due to Covid-19.”
India is working on a cyber security policy like the UK and Australia and roll out a holistic structure wherein more verticals than just national security are covered. The policy is encompassing both internal and external threats and the first meeting of cyber security coordinators from the two countries was held last week.
The capability of India’s data centres abroad need to be evaluated. There is also a suggestion that mock drills can be conducted to ensure the centres are well equipped to deal with any threats.
The founder of Dialogue Kazim Rizvi said, “The initiative to train the government employees in our missions abroad is a very important and progressive step and in line with the government’s objective of protecting India’s national security from cyber-attacks. We are moving to a world where threats in the cyber domain are growing and as our critical systems are connected to the internet, it is imperative to secure our connected systems, as well as ensuring that we have trained manpower that is prepared to respond to and neutralize potential cyber threats.”
