The Indian Institute of Technology in Jodhpur (IIT-J)’s Technology Innovation and Start-up Centre (TISC) and WhizHack Technologies Private Limited has announced an Advanced Certification Bootcamp in Cyber Defense
The course will be launched through their partnership with Cybint Israel, which is a global cyber education company with a commitment to reskilling the workforce and upskilling the industry in cybersecurity.
The 480-hour, 6-month intensive course will have self-paced modules, live sessions, and mentoring by IIT Jodhpur faculty, industry experts, and access to advanced cloud-based labs on the latest cyber tools and techniques. Indian and Israeli faculty will provide skill training in a blended form to new graduates and working professionals looking to up-skill for specialised careers in cyber defense.
According to a news report, a joint study conducted by PwC India and the Data Security Council of India (DSCI) shows increased digitisation has resulted in an increase in cyberattack incidents in India by 292%. The cybersecurity market in India is set to grow to US$3.05 billion by 2022, at a growth rate that is nearly 1.5 times the global growth rate of cybersecurity expenditure, and create over two million new job opportunities by 2025. US and India are the top two countries facing cyber-attacks.
The biggest cybersecurity challenge faced by Indian organisations is the shortage of adequately skilled cybersecurity professionals and training people on new threats like IoT-based endpoint attacks – Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) that are unique until the attack happens, Professor Santanu Chaudhury, Director IIT-Jodhpur, explained.
IIT Jodhpur TISC and WhizHack intend to create a self-reliant India by training professionals with the latest skillsets that can safeguard the interests of India’s enterprises, including 50-70 million SMEs and their ecosystem, he added.
To tackle the exploding high-tech cybercriminal network, India needs to establish a new paradigm of constant learning and relearning for professionals in this field. WhizHack, in partnership with Cybint, will provide a unique opportunity to Indian youth to specialise in cyber-defense that is witnessing a global shortage of talent. The dual certification will allow graduates to build sustainable global career pathways, Kaushik Ray, COO, WhizHack Technologies, noted.
During the first 9 months of 2020 alone, organisations and individuals estimated losses of about $6 trillion due to cyber thefts, with organisations that had the highest level of security also falling prey to cybercrimes. Research has further predicted that by 2027, over 900 million Indians will have a digital presence, and coupling it with the unscrupulous use of personal data and information by service providers, it is vital to implement stringent cybersecurity laws.
As OpenGov Asia had reported, to strengthen the mechanisms that deal with cybercrimes in a comprehensive and coordinated manner, the government has taken steps to spread awareness about cybercrimes. These include issuing alerts/advisories, the capacity building/training of law enforcement personnel, prosecutors, and judicial officers, and improving cyber forensic facilities.
The government has also launched the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal to enable citizens to report complaints pertaining to all types of cybercrimes, focusing on cyber-attacks against women and children. The state-run Cyber Swachhta Kendra (Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre) detects malicious programmes and provides free tools for cleaning malicious code as well as tools such as M- Kavach, which addresses threats related to mobile phones.
