Hyderabad, Jan 28 (PTI): Cybersecurity would assume great importance with digitalisation and the country needs to strengthen its capabilities to secure itself and also be able to provide service to others, a top government official said on Tuesday.

After inaugurating the Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence (CCoE) here, secretary to Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology Ajay Prakash Sawhney said, "Cyber security is going to be another huge dimension where we need to secure ourselves and then strengthen our capabilities so much that we are capable of providing services to others as well.

"Israel has shown us the way...but we need to set very high goals for ourselves. A centre of this kind makes enormous difference, he said.

Every sector would depend on technologies which have to be protected, he said.

Lieutenant General Rajesh Pant (national cybersecurity coordinator), NSCS, said cyber attacks would be increasing with the advent of 5G and IoT (Internet of Things) and hoped that other states would also follow the example of setting up cybersecurity centre of excellence.

Cyber crime is among the factors impacting GDP, which has been acknowledged by reputed international organisations, he said.

Telanganas principal secretary to IT and officiating Vice-Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), Hyderabad, Jayesh Ranjan said a decision has been taken that every student would have to do a module on cybersecurity compulsorily from the next academic year.

The CCoE has been set up with the objective to steer cybersecurity ecosystem, including corporates, banks, financial institutions and general public, to face increasing threats of cyber crime and the need for cyber security, a press release said.

The CCoE, among others, is equipped with an incubation centre for startups and a training centre which aims at providing conducive cybersecurity ecosystem in the city.

The 6000-square-foot facility would serve as the epicentre of cybersecurity development in the state, the release said.

The CCoE would have a training room to conduct knowledge and training sessions on cybersecurity for the industry, government departments, academia and R & D centres and other user groups, it said.

The CCoE is a joint initiative of the Telangana government and Data Security Council of India (DSCI) which is a not-for- profit industry body on data protection set up by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM).

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