Cybersecurity has become a major concern for India. During the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the citizens of India are more dependent on online transaction platforms in their effort to avoid direct contact and chances of infections.

But in this scenario, data privacy and cyber security measures have become extremely critical. On the other hand, digital platforms can help us to curb the spread of Covid infections but it helps a lot to cyber hackers to siphon their hard earned money from accounts.

But whenever we talk about cybersecurity, the mind instantly visualizes representatives and ethical hackers from countries like the US, Russia, Sweden, Israel, Pakistan and more. India is often overlooked as a rising cybersecurity superpower. However, this notion is being rewritten by our very own cybersecurity veteran, Khushhal Kaushik, the Founder-CEO of Lisianthus Tech, a cyber security firm who has bagged the super-prestigious Glory of India Award 2020 recently by Indian achiever forum.

The award is given to professionals and veterans across diverse fields and streams to recognize their excellence, merit, and the propelling of a nation’s growth through their achievements.

Khushhal also joins the bandwagon of awardees of the award that Kiran Bedi, former IPS officer and Lt. Governor of Puducherry, and Sushil Kumar, the Olympian, besides many others.

With this recognition, Khushhal wants India’s presence on the global cybersecurity map, who was also a key player in putting it on a global pedestal in the first place. Besides, Khushhal has made the entire nation proud and turned a few heads towards us to be seen as a rising cybersecurity superpower.

Besides this, Khushhal is the first Indian cyber security expert to be featured by UNESCO back in 2018. And for his achievement, the Andhra Pradesh government had honored him at a special function held at the iconic Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. But Khushhal hasn’t stopped.

The same UNESCO featured a second expert research paper by Khushhal in feb-2021. And that is not all. Khushhal has been recognized and profiled as the future of cyber security in India in prominent media publications by a former US Department of Defense veteran and navy analyst with over 30 years’ experience in cyber security.

Why Cyber Security is Crucial In 2021?

Kaushhal informed that with the definitive Make in India initiatives announced by the Indian government and estimates reporting that over 5 billion devices would connect to the internet in the coming months and years, India needs to lay down solid cybersecurity plans and policies.

This is where veterans like him would come in and deliver game-changing recommendations for implementation. Khushhal, who has already been raising awareness of data and smartphone security to the general public, and he has been also featured by UNESCO’s annual magazine two times. For the publication process, he also demanded that his nationality be published along with his work to ensure the world takes a note of the phenomenal progress happening in the country and how independent cyber security professionals are driving the change.

Besides, Khushhal is also a believer of collaboration between government and private entities to efficiently handle cybersecurity threats. He firmly believes that authorities should prefer home-grown cyber security experts than bringing in foreign experts to strategize cybersecurity plans and policies.

Khushhal’s winning of the award arrives right on time as people are gradually waking up to the importance of their data, how it is accessed, stored and used by market players across the world.

As the world realizes the importance of privacy and the implications of instances like phishing attacks, identity thefts and more, the need is more than ever to have stronger and more scalable cybersecurity policies. And as long as there are experts like Khushhal on our side, we could be sure that our digital footprints are safe and secured. But that does not mean that responsibility is not on us.

In fact, Khushhal believes it is people who should primarily take charge of their online security and be responsible and aware in their internet usage. With him working on several projects currently and spearheading operations at Lisianthus Tech, we sure have safer days coming.

As a global cybersecurity expert, he is quite optimistic about India’s future as a cybersecurity superpower though he believes that there is a lot to do, presently. He believes the biggest barrier to the growth of the cybersecurity industry is lack of awareness about the importance of cybersecurity measures.

Khushhal told The Pioneer, “Despite several cases of cybercrimes, the general public, government sectors and even the corporates are not investing what’s needed to improve their cybersecurity measures”.

“We require a large-scale awareness drive should be launched on a national scale to expand the scope of the cybersecurity industry and make it more inclusive and approachable to the common masses, SMEs and budding startups. Stop advertising and uses of electronic gadgets without proper checking.  The government must formulate a national regulatory policy and facilitate promotion of cybersecurity research and development,” he said.

The cyber expert also recommends introducing cybersecurity as a subject in schools and colleges will help in building strong information about cybersecurity, right from the beginning.

“If we introduce a cybersecurity curriculum and make it a compulsory part of the course right from school level, there will be greater awareness about cybersecurity issues and safety measures which will empower everyone to deal with such cases,” Kaushhal said.

However, Khushhal is not finished yet. Still in his early 32, he still has a lot to offer. After all, putting India on the global cyber security map is an ongoing endeavor.