About 99% future IT workforce is incapable of secure information programming.
Though the country boasts of producing the maximum number of engineering talent in the world, only 1% of Indian IT students have been found skilled in the information security space.
According to a study done by EC-Council, a global certification body for information security professionals, nearly 86% of student IT talent pool in India display no awareness of cyber security basics, while a mere 13% was found to be trainable in the space.
“This is very alarming news to the country’s corporate and defence establishments. India is known as the software and outsourcing capital of the world. However, recent industry data shows how vulnerable the Indian IT industry is. Lack of skills in both working professionals as well as students is a major area of concern for the nation,” says Jay Bavisi, president and co-founder, EC-Council.
The study is indicative of the fact that while the current curriculum has some introductory topics on the subject, focus via its inclusion as a separate subject is missing. India declared its first national cyber security policy in July this year, which aims to create 5 lakh information security professionals over next five years.
“Given the fact the 86% of the current IT talent has no awareness of cyber security, the role of academia becomes all the more challenging,” says Bavisi.
In a recent move to up the ante on cyber security, the government has hired 4,446 experts.
However, the number is miniscule compared to the increasing number of attacks on websites every month. Financial institutions, telecom, mobility, internet organisations and hospitals are more vulnerable to cyber threats today, because of the data they handle.
According to reports by CERT-In, 4,191 Indian websites were hacked in the month of August this year, up from 1,808 in May this year. In fact, corporates too agree that they have a tough time filling up positions in the information security space.
“It is difficult to find basic engineering talent, let alone talent in information security space. The problem is not with students, but the whole system. You can’t expect them to be good at something they are not taught,” says the CFO of an IT company who did not wish to be named.
What is information security?
It is the practice of protecting information from unauthorised access, use, disclosure, modification, perusal, inspection or destruction.
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