NTRO on board,cyber security database coming

The NSD site describes the database is a project of Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC),supported by the government of India. ISAC is a non-profit organisation that works to protect India’s cyberspace.

Rajshekhar Murthy,founder of MalCon (Malware Hacking Conference) and a member of the ISAC board,said,“The single largest objective of NSD is to protect the country and its economy from cyber threats. In 2006,we discovered over 100 vulnerabilities in key GoI websites. But even after repeated notifications to CERT and affected organisations,nothing happened and we saw each of these sites slowly get hacked over the years.”

CERT is the Indian government’s computer emergency response team,which functions under the ministry of communications and information technology. “Then,after the 26/11 attack,” Murthy said,“we expressed the need for a system to gather help from technical experts for fixing problems related to information and cyber security. So we thought of NSD — a database of the most credible and valuable information security professionals in the country,who would be ready to help government agencies voluntarily in protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure from cyber attacks.”

NTRO’s Vijayant confirmed he would be present in Mumbai for the event. He appreciated the NSD initiative,but said he would not comment on the database until it is launched. An NTRO source in Delhi described the NSD as “a good idea that will be useful”.

Murthy said NSD was the product of collaborative effort by a large number of professionals over two years. “We went through several rounds of meetings and discussions to decide the selection procedure for the database. We now have an eight-hour lab test,followed by an interview and a psychometric test for those who wish to be listed,” Murthy said. The psychometric test,he said,was essential to choose people who,with technical knowledge,had the ability to keep critical information secret.

Rohit Srivastava,founder of ClubHack,an association of ethical hackers,and board member of ISAC,said,“NSD would include experts in reverse engineering,web application security,malware research and analysis,exploit development,mobile application security,penetration testing,digital forensic analysis and fraud investigation.”