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IT Enabled Training for Information Security

Information security is the protection of information against unauthorized disclosure, transfer, modifications, or disclosure, whether accidental or intentional. Worldwide IT industry – both hardware and software, is working on Information security aspects to mitigate the potential danger that has assumed significance after 11th September 2001.

Information security is the key issue in today's Information Technology world. Information security is required at all levels – personal level, corporate level, state and country level. There is a steady rise in the occurrence of Information attacks (28 % rise in the first six months of 2002). As per a survey in 2001, Information attacks cost business roughly $ 13.2 billion in damage and clean up cost while the cost in 2000 was $ 17.1 billion. Some of the institutes were even forced to shut down whole networks to fix the problem. International Data Corporation (IDC) predicted that the worldwide information security market would increase from roughly $6.7 billion in 2000 to $21 billion by 2005. In the financial services industry alone, the spending on security related products and services is expected to rise from $848 million in 2000 to $2.2 billion by 2005. Thus, there is a sizable requirement of Information security products and services.

India being a super power in software industry could contribute substantially to this. This necessitates development of specialized manpower, both at high end and low end, in the country. The manpower requirement will not only cater to world market but will also cater to country's requirement. In addition to developing specialized manpower and managers in the Information security area, there will be a requirement of dissemination of information security related information & issues and educating/ training computer network users by and large. These training could be at various levels including introductory training, technical training in different security disciplines, master training and continued education. The whole idea being that the users contributes to the Information Security initiatives of the Government level.

This Working Group should be formed who will recommend the measures to be taken in the country to ensure development of Education in the country in the area of Information security to induct IT related courses in the formal & non-formal education system, training – both short term and long term, leading to development of indigenous hardware and software capabilities in the core area of Information Security.

In particular these are the following areas that need to be strengthened in the country:

Intrusion detection & prevention system

Perimeter Defense / Firewalls

Vulnerability Assessment

Penetration Testing

Incident Handling

Virus / worms notification and correction measures

Computer forensics

Disaster recovery

Infrastructure security

Wireless security

Cryptography and Crypto-analysis

Survival of Network

The following could be the road map to improve the situation-

1 . Identification of the thrust areas / industry requirements – both hardware & software : These could include areas like – Intrusion detection systems, Public Key Infrastructure, Firewalls, security assessments.

2 . Estimate Manpower requirement

From high end and low end, cater to the national requirements and international market.

3 . Launch Nation wide information security campaign

Take appropriate steps to inform the public about Information security in a well-organized manner. This could be done by organizing workshops / training's, regular discussions / talks on TV during prime time, publishing articles etc. in the leading newspapers on Information security and counter security.

Facts on Information Security

1.The Indian market size is however just $20m of a total IT security solutions size of $2.5bn.

2. Estimates of global demand for IS professionals is displaying Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 21% from 2002 and 2008. In 2001, the worldwide market for ISS grew approximately to $ 8 billion from $ 6.7 billion in 2000. By the end of 2006, the worldwide ISS market is expected to almost triple to $ 23.6 billion at a CAGR of approximately 24.1% over the period between 2001 and 2006. Estimates of total Information Security Professionals in the Indian security market in 2002 were 19,000, and this is expected to grow at a CAGR of 26% to reach 77,000 in 2008. This demand is for various technologies i.e. IDVA (Intrusion Detection & Vulnerability Assessment) Software, Security 3A (Administration, Authorization, and Authentication) Software, Encryption Software, SCM (Secure Content Management), Firewall/VPN Software and S/W Exports and various IS Services i.e. Consulting Services, Implementation Services, Management Services, and S/W Services. The financial services (Banking) sector will be the single largest source of ISS spending and demand for IS professional as compared to discrete / process manufacturing, communications and media, Central Government and other services. Worldwide demand for IS manpower for the global region was close to 60,000 professionals in 2002 which is expected to increase to 1,88,000 by 2008 displaying a CAGR of 21 % between 2001 and 2008.