Internet Safety program by Google and DSCI in Guwahati

Few days back I got invited by Google and Data Security Council of India for their Internet safety program which they organized in Radisson Blu, guwahati. It was first of a kind event here in Guwahati. Data Security Council of India (DSCI) is a not-for-profit organization set up by NASSCOM and is focused exclusively on data security, cyber security and privacy protection. 
There has been increasing attention to the MSME sector in the ‘Make-In-India’ initiative. There are 51 million SMEs in India. However, only 5 to 6 % of them are online. The country is witnessing a serious attempt to bring them online. It has been estimated that by 2017, 20 million of them would be online. Apart from online presence, these companies will be spending on IT products that include mobility, social media and cloud in order to increase their customer reach, manage customer relationships better, and ensure efficiency in operations. This drive to digitization is not immune from cyber security threats. Without due consideration to cyber security, the momentum of online and digitization would face serious hindrances. DSCI in partnership with Google India, hence, conceived a focused ‘Internet Safety Program’ for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

Many people from both government sector and business sector were present in the event. The event started with the welcome Speech by Mr. Rahul Sharma, Senior Consultant DSCI where he discussed why cyber security is important for preople and companies.

Shri Mukesh Sahay, IPS DGP, Assam Police was the chief guest of the event. He discussed various cyber security threads that the state are facing and how police and government is taking steps in solving these issue. He also shared few case studies and how they face various challenges.

Mr. Abhas Tripathi, Strategist – Google India did a session on Internet Safety. He shoed how various organizations suffer when they are hacked and he also demonstrated how google is helping organizations to stay protected. we had a great question and answer session with him. where developers and startup founders clear their doubts regarding various security and development related queries.

Dr. K.K Dwivedi, IAS, IT Commissioner & secretary, Assam gave a talk on various steps that the govt is taking in the field of security in the region. He discussed few of his own experiences and also discussed various steps that the government is looking to.

We had a session on the topic Development in the field of Internet safety & cyber security. There were 4 panelist :

1. Mr. Diganta Barman, Senior technical Director ,NIC
2. Mr. Indrajeet Bhuyan ( Me )
3. Dr. Ferdous Ahmed, Asst. Professor, IIIT Guwahati
4. Mr. Nirmal Baishya, Addl. SP, CID

It was a very informative session. Mr. Diganta Barman talked about how NIC is trying to secure government sites and challenges that they face. I mainly spoke about the Barriers in Developments in the field of Cyber Security.

Most of the IT companies of the Assam and northeast like Zaloni, Zantrik etc, and technical institutes were present.Few people from NASSCOM including east region head Nirupam Chaudhuri was also present there. Also , I got a job Offer By NASSCOM.

It was a great learning experience. These days most of the cyber attacks are done mostly on tier 2,3 cities as here the people are not aware of the issue and they dont know how to  protect themselves  from these attacks.

I believe it is a good step by Google and DSCI that they did not neglect the Northeaster part of the country. I hope many more such events take place in future too.