Enhancing cybersecurity for the digital India program: A strategic approach

The Digital India is the flagship IT programme of the Government of India and has the objective of catering to all the governance and non-governance related needs of a digitally empowered society for making it a knowledge economy. As a much-needed and speedily advancing sphere, digitalization also brought about efficiency, governance, and inclusiveness at the same time as it weakens the protection for several key critical infrastructures and personal data of citizens. New areas of human activity, such as in the fields of finance, healthcare, education, alongside civil administration, have strengthened the propensity to cyber-crimes and identity theft. This paper focuses on the current cybersecurity threats within the Digital India Programme to elucidate the existing challenges and underscores the latent vulnerabilities of the nation as it transits to the digital age contemporary and emerging threats and risks associated with the Digital India Programme are identified to include Untold digital infrastructures, low public cybersecurity consciousness, improper synchronised policy execution, and inadequate number of swift-response measures. It presents the current National Cyber Security Policy enacted in 2013 and initiatives made by the Computer Emergency Response Team in India (CERT-In) to address cyber threats as the primary technological approach commonly used in the region. Therefore, to tame the rising threats, the following measures are recommended: Implementation of Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and real-time threat intelligence systems; Establishment of a strong Legal regime; Developing the cybersecurity infrastructure across the country; Enhancing the PPP in the field of cybersecurity. Cybersecurity is an important aspect universally and has significant relevance in the context of India as it has to safeguard not only its security interests but also build up people’s confidence and achieve the vision of Digital India or the sustainable growth targets of the nation. Integrating cybersecurity with the larger vision of digital transformation is needed to ensure that India becomes safe for the vulnerable population while promoting innovation and development.