Sunday, November 4, 2012

Indian Critical Infrastructure And Cyber Security Challenges And Issues

The reliance of consumers and businesses on the cyberspace and interconnected networks would continue to increase. Critical industries like electric, water, oil and natural gas, transportation, automotive, and aerospace are increasingly dependent upon Industrial Control Systems like Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA).

In fact, SCADA has become the new cyber attacks battlefield against India. An attack upon SCADA is essentially an attack upon the critical infrastructure of a nation. The SCADA systems may involve a human machine interface (HMI), a supervisory system managing the processes, remote terminal units (RTUs) interacting with the supervisory systems, programmable logic controller (PLCs) usable as field devices, etc.

Initially, running on proprietary control these have evolved with the availability of low-cost Internet Protocol (IP) devices, thus increasing the possibility of cyber security vulnerabilities and incidents. Therefore, critical infrastructure protection in India must be an integral part of National Cyber Security Policy Of India.

The policy must address Critical Infrastructure Protection Requirements Of India. Further, besides energy, defense, transportation and telecommunication, the financial sector which includes banks and stock exchanges must be suitably protected in India.

Cyber Security Of Banks In India is still not effective. Further, Cyber Security Due Diligence For Banks In India is still missing despite some stern guidelines by Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Indian Banks Are Not Complying With Rbi’s Cyber Due Diligence Requirements.  Even the RBI Warned Indian Banks For Inadequate Cyber Security in the past.

This is a serious issue as more than 80% of banking transactions today takes place online. Similarly, the majority of the investor trade through online systems thus making the financial sector one of the most critical sectors.

Mobile Banking Cyber Security In India is still missing. In these circumstances, Mobile Banking In India has become really risky as it puts the customers at grave risks. Mobile Banking Cyber Security Is Required In India on a priority basis before any mobile banking scheme is launched in India. Although Internet Banking Guidelines In India by RBI have been issued yet no such guidelines have been issued by RBI regarding mobile banking so far.

These Cyber Security Issues In India must be resolved as soon as possible as the Cyber Security Challenges Of India Remains Unredressed till date.

 Source: PTLB Blog