Status Note on Information Security Education And Awareness Project

Information Security Education and Awareness Project was launched in March 2005 with a total budget outlay of Rs. 70 crore with the following broad aims:

(i)    Introduce Information Security Curriculum at M.Tech, B.Tech level and Research Activity/ PhD;

(ii)  Train System Administrators/ Professionals;

(iii) Train Government Officers on Information Security issues;

(iv) Bring Information Security Awareness in the country; and

(v)   Education Exchange Programme

 

The ISEA Project is aimed towards development of human resource in the area of Information Security at various levels.  The manpower being developed consists of students at B. Tech, M.Tech&Ph.Dlevels and System Administrators and others(who have completed their formal studies) trained through Diploma/ Certificate/ short-term courses. This activity is presently being implemented through 6 Resource Centres (RCs-premier institutes viz. 4 IITs at Guwahati, Kanpur, Madras, Roorkee;IISc., Bangalore & TIFR, Mumbai) as mentoring institutions and 33 Participating Institutes (PIs- include 15 NITs, 4 IIITs, 6 Government Engineering Colleges, ISM, NERIST and Select centres (3 each) of NIELIT (erstwhile DOEACC)&C-DAC).  The project also has a component on Awareness aimed towards Industry/ Educational Institutes and the masses, which is being implemented through C-DAC Hyderabad.  The project also aims at imparting training to Government Officers on issues related to Cyber / Information Security, which is being implemented through six implementing agencies (C-DAC, ERNET India, DOEACC Society, CERT-In, STQC Dte., & NIC).

 

Various courses in the area of Information Security - B.Tech&M.Tech (retrofit), New M.Tech. in Information Security, M.Tech in Computer Science with specialization in Information Security, short-term courses/ training programmes are  being organized by the RCs/PIs.  Under the project, an Information Security Lab has been set up at all the RCs & PIs.  So far around 36,000 students have been trained/ undergoing training in various long-term/ short-term courses.  Four (04) Faculty training programmes for PIs were organized through TIFR &IISc.  Schemes for Travel Fellowship for attending conferences, paper presentation, short-term courses, workshops, tutorials etc. for students and faculty of RCs/PIs, and Ph.D Scholarship/Fellowship for students of RCs/PIs were evolved and launched.

 

A national level certification scheme for Information Systems Security professionals has been evolved and launched with NIELIT Gorakhpur as nodal centre. The scheme consists of three levels (both in regular as well as direct mode) viz. Level-1: Certified System Security Analyst (CSSA) - Launched in July 2010; Level-2: Certified System Security Professional (CSSP) - Launched in January 2011; Level-3: Certified Forensic Professionals (CFP)/ Certified Information System Security Audit or (CISSA)/ Certified System Security Solution Designer (CSSD) - Launched in October 2011. As on 31.12.2011, 381 candidates for Level-1 and 62 candidates for Level-2 have been registered.  Registration for Jan 2012 batch of Level1, Level2 and Level3 is under progress.  So far two exams have been conducted for Level-1 and one exam conducted for Level-2.  21 candidates have cleared Level-1 and two have cleared Level-2. 

 

Various Training Programmes for Government Officials are being conducted by the six Implementing Agencies. A modular courseware on Information Security (10 Modules) for short duration training programmes has been designed/developed and integrated with e-learning (e-Sikshak) tool with complete audio integration.Five batches of Training Programme covering 97 Master Trainers were organized at ISTM, Delhi, IISc., Bangalore & CMU, USA.  An Advanced level training programme for 20 participants was also organized at CMU, USA through IISc. Bangalore.

 

Under Information Security Awareness activity, workshops at various locations have been conducted through the centres of C-DAC, NIELIT and the participating institutes.  So far 375 workshops have been organized across the country covering about 16,862 Teachers/ Parents/ CSC/ NGOs, etc., and about 35,811 school children/ Engineering / Degree college students.   During these workshops, around 30,000 Awareness Kits (with promotional material and Hand Books) were distributed.  30 posters on various topics of Information Security Awareness were designed and around 71,500 posters were distributed to target users. Further, around 30,000 stickers were distributed in Mumbai Internet Safety Week 2010 in association with Mumbai Cyber Police, NASSCOM, and DSCI.  Eight cartoon videos have been developed for children.  A dedicated website for Information Security awareness (http://www.infosecawareness.in) has been developed.  Several books/ awareness material like guidelines for XP, Linux, wireless, Security Guidebook, Security Tool Kit, Children Hand Book, Guidebook for Teachers and Parents, etc., have been developed and made available on the web site (5473 downloads so far).  Designed and developed Information Security Awareness Diary-2012 (with 365 tips), Wall/Pocket/ Table Calendars with awareness tips.  Hindi version of Security Awareness Handbook has also been developed.