Cyber Threats Biggest Risk To National Security, Costing $6 Trillion Annually To Economies: Govt, Industry Experts

Online challenges are the biggest threat to national security and there is a need for developing a culture for protection against them, government and industry experts noted on Thursday while also predicting that losses to economies due to cyber security could reach up to $10 trillion by 2025.

Rajesh Pant, the chief of India’s national cyber security council, cautioned people about cyber hygiene and focused on the need for audits in the wake of online incidents.

Ashutosh Chadha, Microsoft India’s group head and director for government affairs, noted that cybercrime costs economies more than $6 trillion each year and the losses are expected to rise up to $10 million in the next three years.

Both were speaking at the DX Secure Summit, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry–Tata Communication Centre for Digital Transformation. The event was held in New Delhi and aimed at addressing the concerns related to cyber security.

“Threats to cyber security are one of the biggest risks to National security, and awareness and building cyber hygiene followed by audits is very important,” Pant, the national cyber security coordinator, said.

Microsoft India’s Chadha highlighted how cybercrime was costing a lot of money to global economies and predicted that the figures will only rise up dramatically in the near future.

Noticing the current trend, he said countries are losing around 46 trillion each year while it is estimated that by 2025 the numbers will reach $10 trillion.

“This signals across the industry that every company needs to create a culture of security,” Chadha said, according to reports.

The event also saw the inauguration of the ‘Cyber Raksha Kavach’ which is an initiative by CII Tata Communications Centre for Digital Transformation and Microsoft.

The ‘Cyber Raksha Kavach’ offers a training programme covering multiple modules of cyber security to individuals and Digital Risk Assessment for organisations to enable the industry to learn and strengthen their cyber security practices, according to the reports.

On the occasion of the launch, CII Centre for Digital Transformation chairman Vijay Thadani said artificial intelligence solutions could be used as the best mitigating factors for cyber threats and India should focus on being a solution provider for cyber security.

“Cyber security is not just about managing risk, it’s also a strategic issue that shapes product capability, organisational effectiveness, and customer relationships,” Thadani, who is also the NIIT’s MD, said.

The reports observed that though the industry has progressed phenomenally through digital adoption since the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, cyber security still remains a challenge, especially for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

The country has witnessed digital transformation triggered by the pandemic, which not only hit the cyber security community hard, but also brought home the need for cyber resilience, it noted.

(Source:- https://www.the420.in/)