Bringing research, funding and industry on the same platform to build the next wave of cybersecurity startups in India, Amrita University’s Technology Business Incubator (TBI) and its Center for Cybersecurity Systems and Networks (CCSN) have both come together to set up a startup hub focused exclusively on cybersecurity.
There are more than 4,000 startups in the country today, but less than 100 operate in the field of cybersecurity and build related products according to Dr. Krishnashree Achuthan, CEO of Amrita University’s Technology Business Incubator (TBI). He goes on to say that India needs to develop this space further for both, economic and military perspectives.
A statement released by the university estimates that cybersecurity is a $70 billion industry worldwide, with an annual loss of $400 billion due to cybercrime and threats. This loss is expected to shoot up to $2 trillion by 2020. The shift to cloud-based services means an immensely large amount of data is flying around and these have minimal or faulty SSL encryption. “The advent of Internet of Things (IoT) is another challenge. With new devices being connected to the Internet on daily basis, it is hard to track the threat landscape because of new variables and attack vectors introduced by each device. Security and protection of computer data has thus become a serious challenge,” added Dr. Achuthan.
They further go on to say that India witnessed an estimated 50,000 cybersecurity incidents in 2015 and more than 26,000 websites have been defaced and 91 lakh infected systems have been detected in the country so far. Making matters worse is that supposedly about 80% of all cybercrimes go unreported. The lack of strong software security and protection techniques, leave all software-based systems vulnerable to attacks from hackers and spies.
Amrita University’s Technology Business Incubator (TBI), is one of the only 6 incubators selected from 232 contenders across India to be made world-class under NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM). They are looking to promote indigenous product development, audit and compliance testing, and creation of test beds that replicate the Internet and enterprise environments. It will be established as part of the “rarest of rare” incubators and focus areas will include mobile, cloud, cyber-physical systems, digital forensics, cryptography, malware analysis, and so on.
Pingback: Fashion and technology platform SummerLabel raised INR 10 million as seed capital