Cyber Security Awareness Brochures In India Mandatory For Hardware Sale

Cyber security awareness in India is still low among various stakeholders including software and hardware manufacturers, vendors, sellers, redistributors, etc. In a far reaching move, Indian government has decided to make it mandatory on the part of hardware sellers to provide cyber security awareness brochures while sale of such hardware.

Cyber security in India is of basic level. Sophisticated and complicated cyber security issues have yet to be managed by India. In particular, issues pertaining to cyber warfare against India and its defenses, cyber terrorism against India and its defences and solutions, cyber espionage against India and its challenges, solutions and defences, data security laws in India, critical infrastructure protection in India, cyber security laws in India, etc must be handled by India on an urgent and priority basis.

Reacting to various cyber threats, Indian government has prescribed the condition for hardware sellers to provide cyber security awareness brochures along with the hardware. Once implemented, every desktop computer, mobile phone, modem or USB stick will have to come pre-packaged with the cyber security awareness brochures.

The proposal is believed to have come from the a joint working group set up at the behest of the National Security Council Secretariat, which is looking at ways of increasing public-private partnership to strengthen India's cyber security preparedness.

However, hardware industry of India is not at all enthusiastic about this proposal of Indian government. They have their own fears and apprehensions in this regard especially those pertaining to logistical and supply chain management.

There is no doubt that the proposal given by Indian government is a good one and practical difficulties must be sorted out to make it an implementable one as well.