Cyber security courses to be part of UG, PG level

CHENNAI: With the spate of online crimes having drastically increased over recent years, syllabus covering cyber security courses will be introduced in all Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) at Under Graduate (UG) and Post Graduate (PG) levels.

The syllabus, prepared by the University Grants Commission (UGC) aims to create more aware, responsive, and responsible digital citizens thereby contributing effectively to an overall healthy cyber security posture and ecosystem.

The UGC, in its notification, said that cyber security as a subject, needs to be incorporated at graduation and post-graduation level in all the streams. Accordingly, a separate syllabus for graduation and PG is to be prepared.

UGC professor Rajnish Jain said topics like cyber law, data privacy and security, e-commerce, digital payments, social media and its security, cyber security of digital devices, tools and technology for cyber security, cyber security plan and security controls will be covered in the syllabus.

He said the exposure of students to cyber security programs at UG and PG levels will lead to several objectives, including learning the foundation of cyber security and threat landscape, equipping students with the technical knowledge and skills needed to protect and defend against cyber threats and to develop skills that could help them plan, implement, and monitor cyber security mechanisms to ensure the protection of information technology assets.

“The course will also expose students to governance, regulatory, legal, economic, environmental, social and ethical contexts of cyber security,” he said, adding, the course will also systematically educate the necessity to understand the impact of cyber crimes and threats with solutions in a global and social context.