India ranks 10th in Cyber security Index

• Vaid's ICS, Lucknow
• 01, Jul 2021

Why in News?

The cyber security Index was released recently.

Key Points:

• India was ranked ahead of China (No. 33) and Pakistan (No. 79) in global cybersecurity ranking of countries.
• India has improved its ranking from 47 to 10 in United Nation’s ITU Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA).
• United States has been ranked first and is followed by United Kingdom.
• Improved ranking acknowledges multiple initiatives that India have taken along with CERT (Cyber Emergency Response Team).

Background

This ranking was announced at a time when government has been dealing with instances of cross-border cyber-attacks. In February 2021, several instances were observed where government domain email addresses were used to launch cyber-attacks.

Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI)

• GCI is a project of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to rank cybersecurity capabilities of nations across the globe.
• It is a trusted reference measuring commitment of nations to cybersecurity at a world level.
• It is published to raise awareness of importance and different dimensions of cybersecurity issues.

level of development or engagement in the field of cybersecurity is assessed in five pillars

1. Legal Measures
2. Technical Measures
3. Organizational Measures
4. Capacity Development and
5. Cooperation

And then data are aggregated into an overall score. GCI leverages capacity and expertise of different organizations in order to improve quality of survey, and to promote knowledge exchange in the fields of cybersecurity. ITU Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA)​ ​provides general foundation and framework for initiative.​

International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

• ITU was founded in 1865 and is an integral part of United Nations
• It has widest decision-making scope among international ICT organizations with respect to issues addressed and types of decisions made
• Its treaties provide an international legal framework for cooperation between states, private sector

Facts for Prelims :

Atlas of glacial lakes:

• Ministry of Jal Shakti has released an updated atlas of glacial lakes that are part of the Ganga river basin.
• About 4,707 glacial lakes have been mapped in the Ganga basin.
• Glacial lakes with water spread area greater than 0.25 ha were mapped using Resourcesat-2 Linear Imaging Self Scanning Sensor-IV satellite data.
• The Atlas is available on Bhuvan portal of National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), ISRO.