UK plans cyber security mission to Mumbai, Delhi

LONDON: The UK government will send its first-ever cyber security trade mission to India next week in the lead up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the country next month.

UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) is leading the five-day mission of eight UK-based firms to Mumbai and New Delhi from October 11.

"India is really important to us. It is a fantastic market and a wonderful base for cyber security," said Stephen Phipson, the head of UKTI's Defence & Security Organisation ( DSO).

In 2014, the UK exported 92 million pounds to India making it the third largest exporter to India.

This mission is aimed at further boosting those exports and initiating dialogue with representatives of the Indian Banking Association, Bombay Stock Exchange and Mumbai Police Cyber Cell, among others, during the Mumbai leg of the mission.

In New Delhi, the group will participate in the CyFy Conference: The Indian Conference on Cyber Security and Internet Governance at Taj Mahal Hotel.

They will also be meeting Gulshan Rai, India's first Cyber Security Chief appointed by Prime Minister Modi earlier this year.

"The key part of the mission for us is understanding the environment and sharing experiences and best practices. There are commercial opportunities within the Indian government's initiatives like Make In India and ebiz platform of Digital India and we hope to make some good impact with this visit," said Annu Khurmi from Templar Executives, one of the UK-based cyber security firms participating in the mission.

"This is a dynamic threat, which has no defined boundaries. India has woken up that. The Indian government's focus on training 500,000 cyber specialists is right in our sweet spot, in terms of our capability and experience and we look forward to sharing that," added Khurmi, whose firm also runs a Cyber Academy offering cyber security training.

Among the other participating companies from Britain include BAE Systems, whose Applied Intelligence division is a leading supplier of cyber security products and services, KPMG, British Telecom, Cloud Buy, Cambridge-based Dark Trace, Ultra Electronics and IACS.