Govt to float free anti-virus kits to boost Digital India

New Delhi: In a major push to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a safe and secure Digital India, the government has decided to provide anti-virus kits to strengthen the cybersecurity ecosystem in the country. According to sources, initially, the anti-virus kits would be provided free of cost to users owning personal computers, laptops, tablet and smartphones.

The free distribution of anti-virus kits would be implemented with the help of public-private partnership under the government's Cyber Surakshit Bharat drive, which was launched on Friday. "Given the fact that India is one of the weakest countries in defence against malware attacks, the decision is aimed at strengthening cybersecurity ecosystem as the country is facing about 1.90 lakh cyber attacks every week," an official sources said.

The IT Ministry, which is headed by Ravi Shankar Prasad, has already prepared the framework in consultation with IT companies and experts to make India a cyber-secure nation. On the recommendation of IT Ministry, all the ministries would allocate 10 per cent of their budget on cybersecurity.

The funds would be used by different ministries at different levels around the year. As states are major stake players, the Centre has also asked all state governments to allocate a certain percentage of budgets for cybersecurity at the ministerial level. The government has also rolled out its plan to launch an awareness programme on the importance of cybersecurity; series of workshops on best practices to mitigate cyber threats.