As the Union Budget 2024 approaches, we look forward to the government continuing its focus on initiatives promoting cybersecurity, data privacy, and responsible AI development. Steps like the Data Protection Data Privacy (DPDP) Bill to strengthen data privacy and initiate new laws around deep fakes are highly appreciated.
We hope to see sustained investments in cybersecurity infrastructure and human capital development. With cyber threats only increasing each year, educating Indian businesses and government entities about the risks as well as providing them with access to modern cybersecurity solutions and highly skilled security professionals is paramount for the Indian economy. We would hope to see the budget funding more educational and training programs to build expertise in the responsible use of AI and cybersecurity spaces.
Despite rising cyberattacks, organisations struggle with skills gaps and resource crunches and so increasing the number of skilled professionals is important. Also, through the right education initiatives, Indian businesses should be aware of and consider using modern managed detection and response solutions to ensure they have 24/7 cyber protection without the need for additional security staff.
Further, there are still businesses in India settling for what they consider “good enough” cybersecurity and so it's important to provide education around what cybersecurity solutions provide protection against modern cyber threats.
The ‘good enough' approach to security that too many companies have settled for does not work in our industry. Organisations need the best outcomes, which is stopping the breach and consolidating point solutions to drive down costs.
Achieving these outcomes requires a true security platform, natively built with AI at the core together with human expertise to protect their critical assets from the endpoint and beyond.
Overall, a focus on these critical areas in the upcoming budget will pay dividends by creating a safe and innovation-friendly digital ecosystem. India has the potential to become a global hub for technology and talent. The right security approaches, policy support and funding for these key areas will help unleash this potential.
The author is Managing Director, India & SAARC, CrowdStrike. Views are personal.
