India to enhance cybersecurity

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NEW DELHI, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- An Indian working group has recommended a government-private sector initiative to enhance cybersecurity to protect India's defense and other government data.

In the recommendations, national security adviser Shivshankar Menon noted a "critical shortage" of cybersecurity professionals in the government, the Indian Express reported.

The new initiative calls for training up to 500,000 experts in the next five years to deal with cyberattacks from both domestic saboteurs and foreign rivals, the Times of India reported.

The Times said cyber warfare has become a serious threat to India's national security as its information systems are increasingly being hacked through such attacks.

Menon's report, "Engagement with Private Sector on Cyber Security," said the government would introduce specialized cybersecurity-related curriculum in engineering and management courses and establish a multidisciplinary center of excellence.

"The enormous potential for damage has made cyber security a major concern. There is no question that both the government and private sector need each other. The unique nature of this collaboration is because of the unique nature of the domain, and we need to develop the habit of working together that hasn't existed in the past," Menon said, The Hindu newspaper reported.