Karnataka Cybersecurity Policy 2024

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News –

The Centre of Excellence for Cybersecurity – Karnataka (CySecK) annual compendium report confirmed that Karnataka accounted for nearly 9% of India’s total ransomware cases during 2025–26.

Karnataka Cybersecurity Policy 2024

Objective – to create a secure, resilient digital ecosystem for government services (G2G, G2B, G2C).
The policy, aimed at strengthening data protection, fostering startup innovation, and creating 35,000+ jobs, earmarks over ₹100 crore for implementation over five years.

Key pillars of the policy:

- Skill Development & Awareness: Partners with CISCO to train 40,000 individuals in cybersecurity, with a 50% focus on women.
- Startup Incentives: Offers up to ₹50 lakh in matching grants for R&D projects and up to ₹1 lakh reimbursement for cybersecurity audits.
- Infrastructure Protection: Focuses on strengthening cyber resilience of state IT assets and protecting critical infrastructure.
- Collaboration: Engages with industry, academia, and organizations like Meta for public awareness

Centre of Excellence for Cybersecurity (CySecK) is a flagship initiative by the Government of Karnataka established in 2017 to strengthen the state’s digital ecosystem.

Connect with the basics – Types of Cyber Attacks

Malware – It is short for malicious software, refers to any kind of software that is designed to cause damage to a single computer, server, or computer network.

Example – Ransomware, Spy ware, Worms, viruses, and Trojans are all varieties of malware.

Phishing – It is the method of trying to gather personal information using deceptive e-mails and websites.

Types of Malware

Spyware – Spyware is software that spies on you, tracking your internet activities in order to send advertising (Adware) back to your system.
Virus – A virus is a contagious program or code that attaches itself to another piece of software, and then reproduces itself when that software is run. Most often this is spread by sharing software or files between computers.
Worm – A program that replicates itself and destroys data and files on the computer. Worms work to “eat” the system operating files and data files until the drive is empty.

Recent Steps Taken in India regarding Cyber Security

Cyber Surakshit Bharat Initiative – It was launched in 2018 with an aim to spread awareness about cybercrime and building capacity for safety measures for IT staff across all government departments.
National Cyber security Coordination Centre (NCCC) – In 2017, the NCCC was developed to scan internet traffic and communication metadata coming into the country to detect real-time cyber threats.
Cyber Swachhta Kendra – In 2017, this platform was introduced for internet users to clean their computers and devices by wiping out viruses and malware.
Computer Emergency Response Team – India (CERT-IN) – It is the nodal agency which deals with cybersecurity threats like hacking and phishing.

Legislation

International Mechanisms

International Telecommunication Union (ITU) – It is a specialised agency within the United Nations which plays a leading role in the standardisation and development of telecommunications and cyber security issues.

Budapest Convention on Cybercrime

It is an international treaty that seeks to address Internet and computer crime (cybercrime) by harmonizing national laws, improving investigative techniques, and increasing cooperation among nations.
It came into force on 1st July 2004.
India is not a signatory to this convention.

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