Karnataka Makes Cybersecurity A Compulsory Subject For All Degree Courses From Next Academic Year
The Cybersecurity Awareness Month Programme 2022, launched by the Minister of Higher Education and Information Technology, Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, welcomed a first-of-its-kind academic initiative in the state. Speaking at the event, the vice-chairman of Karnataka Higher Education Council, Professor B Thimmegowda, said that cybersecurity would be made a compulsory subject in all degree courses starting from the next academic year.
This has been considered a positive move in a space where cybersecurity has turned into a growing concern. By creating awareness through an academic perspective, they intend to build a community that is cyber-aware and less likely to fall for scams that happen regularly in the virtual space.
Moving Towards CyberSecure Ecosystem
While talking about the initiative, Thimmegowda said that the new course revolving around cybersecurity would come into force apart from the already existing Information and Technology and Computer Science courses. The course is being curated for the next academic year in collaboration with the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), a non-governmental advocacy group focused on the technology industry of the country.
The current course structure talks about topics such as Artificial Intelligence and digital fluency and will be expanded to accommodate discussions on cybersecurity. It will be made compulsory for all degree students, irrespective of their streams. Even students who are involved in non-technical courses would get the opportunity to understand their privacy and security better in the cyber world, according to a report by the Indian Express.
Digitally Securing India
As per multiple reports, India was among the top five countries globally in terms of cyber security breaches, with around 86 million data breaches reported in the year 2021.
Building on this further was a report by the Hindustan Times, which revealed that there were over 670,000 cybersecurity cases reported in the country till the month of June. With the growing number of cases, the government has looked into adopting several measures to enhance the cyber security posture and prevent cyber attacks.
As a part of the same, Information Technology Minister Narayan said that cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence are among the courses that have been made mandatory according to the new National Education Policy – 2020. He believed that bringing about digital literacy courses into the curriculum could build a stronger cybersecurity ecosystem in the state.
Talking about the state's efforts in the same, he said that Karnataka would soon be releasing a Cybersecurity Policy aimed to create a cyber secure environment along with advanced protection of the state's information technology assets. As an extension of the same, they are also considering setting up a state CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) for effective coordination of responses to cyber security incidents in the state.
Also Read: Safer Internet Day: A Look At How Internet Impacts Personal Safety
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