Cybersecurity awareness and digital literacy in the context of digital India

India’s bold Digital India initiative initiated in 2015 aims to convert the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledge based economy. It encourages the wide use of digital technologies to deliver government services, improve digital infrastructure, and raise internet penetration throughout the country. While in the process of accelerating digital uptake, this has brought in new vulnerabilities. As the number of people going online for the first time inclines, the exposure to cyber risk presented by phishing, hacking, identity theft, and online scams is increasing at a very rapid rate, in the rural and semi-urban areas as well. In this context, cybersecurity awareness and digital literacy take the form of two critical pillars which can make possible the safe and successful implementation of Digital India. Cybersecurity awareness is an awareness of possible online hazards and how to react to them. Digital literacy goes beyond just operating devices, it involves understanding the online thing, on-line threats spotting, use of security practices, data privacy. It is imperative for safeguarding individuals/ institutions from the wave of cybercrime. Relying on the current state of cybersecurity awareness and digital literacy in India. Analyzing the efforts of the government through Cyber Swachhta Kendra, Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (DISHA) and Information Security Education and Awareness (ISEA) program and discussing gaps that limit their scope and efficacy, this paper is an attempt towards the discussion of the current state of cybersecurity awareness and digital literacy in India. It also speaks about the problems of educating the diverse population when its literacy level and level of access to technology vary.