The Data Security Council of India (DSCI)

DATA SECURITY COUNCIL OF INDIA

By Pranika:-

The Data Security Council of India (DSCI) was established in the year 2008, by The National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM). It is a non-profit industry body, aimed at making the cyberspace secure and ensure data protection. It establishes best practice, standards and initiatives in cyber security and privacy.

INITIATIVES AND PROGRAMS

Policy Advocacy:

The DSCI engages on policy matters regarding Cyber Security, Privacy Laws, Cybercrimes, Internet Governance, Trans-border Data Flows, Payment Security and Skill Building with government and other key stakeholders. It works in collaboration with Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Department of Commerce, (DoC), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, NITI Aayog, Competition Commission, Reserve Bank of India, among others.

It also works in association with international bodies, think tank, academia and multilateral stakeholder bodies. It also works on matters of global policy issues and international standards on security and privacy.

Thought Leadership:

DSCI engages in research work, publishes research studies, reports and surveys; and creates security frameworks and standards. This helps in exchange and dissemination of knowledge to ensure that a data protection culture is in place and to analyse the level of preparedness of the industry on this matter.

Some of the DSCI Frameworks include DSCI Security Framework (DSF) and DSCI Privacy Framework (DPF), along with their implementation assessment frameworks, which are in line with the best international privacy and security practices.

It also publishes training manuals and other publications in the fields of cybercrime investigation and cyber forensics, which are used and appreciated widely.

Outreach and Awareness:

DSCI has a Corporate Membership Program, which gives the members an opportunity to learn, communicate and strengthen perspectives by engaging with the Council. It has Chapters in major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Jaipur, including one in Singapore and so on. It also organises Flagship events, Conferences, Workshops and Roundtables Meetings to engage with its members and other stakeholders. The objective of such events is to create awareness and encourage deliberation on contemporary issues of privacy and security. It also arranges programs for citizens and gives inputs to the media on all dimensions of data protection, privacy and cyber security and related topics.

Capacity Building:

DSCI is actively engaged in imparting training and building capacity in security and privacy. Following are some of its initiatives in this regard:

1. DSCI Certified Privacy Professional (DCPP) certification program and DSCI Certified Privacy Lead Assessor (DCPLA) to build capacity in privacy.
2. Cyber Forensics facility at Bengaluru to build capacity of law enforcement, judiciary, armed forces and prosecution departments in handling cybercrime investigations.
3. Centre for Cybercrime Investigation Training & Research in Karnataka to serve as a centre for elevating cybercrime management and forensics.
4. It conducts trainings and sessions throughout the year to afford an opportunity to the stakeholders to collaborate and create awareness.

Industry Development:

This initiative aims to make India a global hub for cyber security by focussing on domestic market development, growing the Indian cyber security start-up ecosystem, global market development, policy advocacy for Industry growth, support co-creation, innovation and R&D in cyber security and privacy, and meet the talent and skill development requirements in cyber security.

CYBER SECURITY TASK FORCE

The NASSCOM, in collaboration with the DSCI, set up the Cyber Security Task Force (CSTF) under the chairmanship of Mr. Rajendra Pawar, Chairman, NIIT on March 1, 2013. The task force Comprises of leaders from IT industry, security product companies, user enterprises like banking, telecom, energy sector, senior officers from government etc. The vision of the force is to make India a global leader in cyber security space by 2025, ‘to build the cyber security industry of India from the current one percent market share to ten percent by 2025; build a trained base of 1 million certified and skilled cyber security professionals and come up with 100+ successful security product companies from India’.

TECHSAGAR (https://www.techsagar.in/)

Techsagar is a portal that is a repository of the cyber technological capabilities of India across 25 areas, including Internet of Things, Blockchain, Cloud Computing and Virtualization, Data Science and so on. The portal lists more than 4,000 business and research entities from startups, academia, Information Technology (IT) industry, and individual researchers.