India To Set-Up National Cyber Coordination Centre, Ups Cyber Defense Budget

The Indian government has dedicated a budget of $16. 2 million to increase cyber security and cyber defense in the country.

According to reports, the department of electronics and information technology seek approval for three projects that will enhance the government's ability to fight cyber attacks.

Among them is the creation of a National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) at a cost of $13 million while the remaining two projects will aim to strengthen the government's email system and create a botnet clearing centre.

The NCCC, expected to be up and running within the next year, will be tasked with monitoring internet traffic to help contain and thwart potential domestic or international attacks on its infrastructure.

Its capabilities will also issuing advance alerts based on trends such as spikes in data, virus and botnets from a particular area.

"We are going to beef up our investment in cyber security. And we will very soon go to the Cabinet with that. Security is very important and we are insisting on it at the international level," Telecommunications and Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told the Business Standard.

A botnet cleaning centre is also among the new projects.  According to reports, India is among the top 10 sources of botnets in the world and the proposed centre will extract information to uncover the origins of the viruses and how they can be removed.