Cyber security needs 77,000 experts in 3 yrs
By siliconindia staff writer   |   Friday, 23 January 2004, 20:30 IST
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PUNE: The country will need 77,000 professionals for its cyber security programmes over the next three years. The Department of Information Technology (DIT), under the Union ministry of communication and information technology (MCIT), has drawn up an “ambitious national plan” to address this issue. “We have taken stock of the cyber security and protection of critical infrastructure needs and found this huge gap on the supply side,” Kamalkant Jaiswal, secretary, IT, Government of India, said. Jaiswal was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a one-day conference on `Pune’s potential to be the knowledge capital of India ’, organised by the local chapter of The indUS Entrepreneur (TiE). Earlier, speaking at the conference, Jaiswal outlined the ministry’s proposed DNA/Bioinformatics Park. Global consultants Ernst and Young (E&Y) will submit their report identifying the nature and scope of infrastructure and services such a park could offer. The consultants will also advise the government on a suitable partner for the public-private development of the park. “Pune, with its unique configuration of skill sets, computational power and collaborative strengths, is a strong contender for the DNA/Bioinformatics Park,” Mr Jaiswal said. The location is still to be finalised, since this depends on the strategic partner, but Mr Jaiswal did not rule out the setting up of multiple parks. He said the government needs to draw up a regulatory framework for such a park, having already begun a gap analysis on the human resources required for such a venture. On the cyber security front, Jaiswal said the need is to create more specialist courses for this sector. “At present, this sector is addressed by informal self-development, where people have drifted there. Very few institutions offer specialist courses in cyber security. Pune University is part of the focus for such courses which will also be offered by IISc, Bangalore and the IITs,” he said. (Source: ET)

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