The British government is sending its first cyber security mission to India later this week, as part of growing engagement between the two countries in the areas of security and cyber technology.

The delegation, led by Stephen Phipson, head of UK Trade and Industry’s Defence and Security Organisation, includes big names such as BAE Systems, as well as SMEs, and reflects Britain’s growing focus on developing itself as a pre-eminent player in the rapidly growing cyber security industry.

Phipson drew a distinction the expertise being developed in Britain to that in Silicon Valley. “We are not talking about anti-virus for my consumer PC — it’s things that might be used in the higher-end enterprise — in a financial services or government type environment, protecting very valuable networks,” he said at a briefing in London ahead of the trip.

To visit Mumbai & New Delhi

The team, which comprises eight private companies, will visit Mumbai and New Delhi from October 11. Alongside meetings with the Indian Banks’ Association, and the Bombay Stock Exchange, law enforcement officials from the Maharashtra police and legal organisations.

The group will also be attending “CyFy” — the Indian conference on cyber security and the Internet taking place in New Delhi in mid-October. They are set to meet Gulshan Rai, India’s first cyber security chief, appointed earlier this year.

The British mission hopes that India’s growing interest and spending on cyber security and the digital space more widely will offer Britain opportunities in a yet untapped area of defence and security trade. “Its not just an issue of hacking security networks but there is a physical safety importance,” said Emily Orton of Cambridge-based cyber-security firm, pointing to the potential threats to infrastructure and industrial control systems that could have a direct impact on the safety of people.

“The traditional approach of a wall around your network to keep threats off is outdated. We take the approach that we assume your organisation is compromised — and our approach is inspired by the principles of the human immune system in its ability to learn and adapt.”

The UK experience had shown that without collaboration between private industry and government it was not possible to evolve strategies to address cyber security — something they hoped to work with India on, said Anu Khurmi of cyber security advisory, Templar Executives. The company also runs a cyber academy and hopes to work with the Indian government in its training of 5 lakh cyber specialists.

“We believe we can bring in a significant skillset and experience to an already established market,” Mandeep Obhrai, CEO of the Information Assurance Consulting Service, which works in the area of financial systems, energy as well as government, and hopes to work with the government in India.

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