India looks at Google for help with cybersecurity

With India increasingly embarking the digital age, the government has grown worried about all the threats the country faces online. With no hesitance, it is looking at Google for help.

India’s outspoken IT, Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today requested Sundar Pichai to make Google more involved with India’s cyber security efforts.

"In a larger push, I want Google to be involved in a more meaningful way. The more digital we go, the more challenges there will be in terms of cybersecurity," Shankar said onstage at an event where Pichai announced Digital Unlocked initiative for India’s small and medium sized businesses.

Prasad added, "Google is as much an Indian company as American. The sheer number of people in India who have accepted you means you have an obligation for India as much as you have for the United States."

Prasad’s remarks comes at a especially crucial time for India. The government was reportedly scrambling its databases and other records last month in the wake of several high profile Twitter hacks.

A hacker group Legion breached Twitter accounts typhoon Vijay Mallya, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, as well as of two Indian journalists. The hacker group had hinted that it was going to make public several government records soon.

An American multinational technology company ramping up security efforts in India to help the government isn’t unheard of. Last year, Microsoft launched its full-scale Cybersecurity Engagement Centre in the country.

The "first-of-its-kind centre", located in the heart of the country's capital city of New Delhi, is positioned to help public and private sector organizations in India with deeper cybersecurity collaborations with Microsoft.

At the time, Microsoft pointed that Indian firms were highly vulnerable of cybersecurity attacks. The company said IT assets were "unmanaged and unregulated" across several organisations, with onsite staff unable to timely monitor, detect, and remove threats.

Prasad's comment about Google being as Indian as its American might not sit well with some. Last month, some of India's poster boys of successful startups had urged the government to favor Indian companies over their foreign counterparts.