Are we waiting for 'cyber earthquake' to get act together: Top official

Pune: National Cyber Security Coordinator Lieutenant General Rajesh Pant (retd) on Monday asked if it would need a "cyber earthquake" to get our act together on the issue.

He was speaking at the "International Symposium on Quantum Information Technology (IQSIT 2019)" which started here on Monday.

Buttressing his point, Pant said disaster management was under the Union agriculture ministry earlier, and a dedicated mechanism was formed only after the Latur earthquake in Maharashtra in 1993, which killed over 10,000 people.


"The National Disaster Management Authority now has its presence in all states and they are ready for action whenever a disaster strikes. Now are we waiting for a cyber earthquake to get out act together (on cyber security)," he asked.

The 4-day symposium was organised jointly by Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Joint Advanced Technology Centre (JATC-IITD).

G Satheesh Reddy, secretary, department of defence (R&D) and chairman, DRDO, was also present at the symposium.