IETE inaugurates Centre of Excellence for cyber security

While speaking at the inauguration of the ‘Centre of Excellence: Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure Security’, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Dr. Rajesh Pant, National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC), PMO, Government of India said, “Cyber Security has become very important during COVID-19. We are passing through a very serious situation at the moment. This timely step by ‘The Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers’ (IETE) India will have full support from my Department”. He was the Chief Guest at the inaugural function.

Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Dr. Rajesh Pant in his address advised IETE to focus around Hardware Security and align its efforts with Mission of Govternment of India like ‘National Quantum Mission’.

Setting up of the ‘Centre of Excellence: Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure Security’, is part of the initiative of IETE’s future growth strategy.

While conveying his sincere gratitude to the Chief Guest Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Dr. Pant for his valuable advice on bringing a focus to specific area of Cyber Security, particularly hardware security, Dr. J.W. Bakal, President, IETE shared a broad outline of the CoE.  “IETE’s focus is to support Government of India’s effort in creating a strong ecosystem for Cyber Security in the areas of IOT, Smart City, Industry 4.0 and Hardware Security”, said Dr. Bakal. He also emphasized that the connected ecosystem covers smart factories, smart grid and smart supply chain therefore issues of data security and privacy are of great importance.

Dr. N. Sarat Chandra Babu, Executive Director, Society for Electronic Transactions and Security (SETS) Chennai, in this key note address gave an overview of current and emerging trends in Cyber Security.  In addition to industry-academia association; industry led applied research, he emphasized on collaboration amongst R&D organizations to arrive at a holistic indigenous solution in cyber space. “We have to address the growing challenges of cyber threats by training a large pool of skilled manpower. For this, an appropriate training infrastructure as to be in place. CoE by IETE is a step in this direction”, said Dr. Sarat Babu. According to him there is a need for preparedness of the nation in terms of Cyber Security in Quantum Era by focusing on Post Quantum Cryptography and Quantum Key Distribution Technologies.

On this occasion, a tech-webinar was also organized on Cyber Attacks & Mitigation Strategy and Vulnerability & Penetration Testing. Dr. T.R. Reshmi and S. Karthekeyan, Scientists, SETS Chennai delivered a holistic perspective on the above important topics. This session was followed by an interactive Q&A session.

Dr. Shiv Kumar, Co-Chair, Skill Development and Industrial Committee, IETE thanked IETE Governing Council for the support and guidance on CoE. He also thanked Electronic Sector Skill Council (ESSCI), Telecom Sector Skill Sector Council (TSSC), Information Security Education and Awareness (ISEA), Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) for extending their active support and he also thanked the participants.

During their address, Dr. Bakal and Dr. Sarat Babu applauded the initiative taken by Dr. Kumar for the efforts in launching the CoE.

—CT Bureau