BENGALURU: The state Cabinet approved the Karnataka Cyber Security Policy 2022-27 at a meeting held on Thursday. The policy aims to strengthen capabilities of the state government and the IT industry in checking increasing cases of cyber crime in the state.
The policy has been introduced as Karnataka is among the states with highest level of internet penetration in the country. The current digitisation drives are further increasing the adoption of internet technology by citizens as well as by small and big business firms. Cyber security is of utmost concern to the IT and start-up industry that is a major source of employment and investment. The policy focuses on cyber security of citizens and industry in the state and proposes strategies to enhance the general level of cyber security across all sectors.
While cyber security is a growing concern as the number of cyber attacks like hacking, ransomware and cyber frauds are on the rise, the policy proposes citizen-centric awareness drives, boosting cyber security industry, state capacity building and centralised response mechanism. It aims at addressing cyber security challenges through five pillars - building awareness, skill-building, promoting research and innovation, promotion of industry and start-ups, and collaborations for capacity building.
Cyber Security Policy aims to woo investment in Tier2/3 cities
The Centre introduced National Cyber Security Policy in 2013 following which states like Haryana, and Tamil Nadu came out with their own cyber security policies. The Karnataka Cyber Security Policy focuses on attracting investments, particularly in Tier 2/3 cities by developing clusters, strengthening the cyber security eco-system and technology leadership through policy intervention.
As part of skill-building, a specialised course in cyber security in higher education within the framework of the NEP will be introduced. A virtual cyber department would also be set up for strengthening practical skills among students and to provide an experience of detection and mitigation of cyber attacks in an interactive technology environment. A ‘Use Case Clearing House’ would be set up for the identification of research problems for researchers/start-ups to convert into Proof of Concept.