'Do You Log Out of Your Systems After Work, I do': PM Modi to Bureaucrats in Push for Cyber Security

“Do you log out of your IT systems after the day’s work? I do…it is important for cyber security” — This was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s advice to senior bureaucrats at a meeting recently as he stressed upon the issue of cyber security.

PM Modi is also said to have told the officers that one person in each office can be designated to go around at the end of the day to ensure all systems have been logged out of. The prime minister told bureaucrats that he himself religiously logs out of his system when he goes home and impressed upon the officers how open systems could be prone to cyberattacks. PM Modi also mentioned to the officers that he had discussed the issue of cyber security with Bill Gates in a meeting this March.

In written directions issued subsequently by the Cabinet Secretary post the PM’s meeting, it has been mentioned that “ministries to take steps to make their IT systems resilient and to sensitize the officers to ensure unscrupulous adherence to cyber security guidelines and protocols…this should be a continuing endeavor.” Cyber security has become a top concern for the government following a number of cyberattacks on government systems over the last few years.

The interim budget earlier this year increased the allocation for the Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) by at least 70 per cent, while the cyber coordination budget increased by a whopping 900 per cent as compared to 2022. This underscores the central government’s recognition of the growing importance of cybersecurity

The recent DGP/IGP Conference also allocated significant time to the key topic of cyber threats and security and discussed threadbare the issue of ‘Emerging cyber threats from national-state actors and strategies to mitigate threats on critical information structure’. Strategies were drawn up for mitigating threats, particularly targeting critical information structures in the health sector. Last year, a big case of data leak at the ICMR was reported in which Covid-19 test information of over 80 crore Indians was out up on sale online.