Kerala based Amrita University is setting up a startup incubator which will focus exclusively on cyber security.

Amrita University’s Technology Business Incubator and its Center for Cybersecurity Systems and Networks will bring together research, funding and stakeholders from the industry to build cyber security startups in India, the university said.

Krishnashree Achuthan, CEO of Amrita University’s Technology Business Incubator (TBI) said: “With wars being fought every minute across the world in cyberspace, cybersecurity has become a strategic national priority. India needs to tackle this challenge from both an economic and military perspective.”

According to market researcher IDC, global cyber security spending is expected to hit $ 101.6 billion by 2020. India witnessed an estimated 50,000 cybersecurity incidents in 2015, more than 26,000 websites have been defaced and 91 lakh infected systems have been detected in the country till now, the university said.

Amrita University’s incubator is one of the 6 incubators selected from 232 applicants under the government’s Atal Innovation Mission.

Among states, Kerala seems to be taking a lead in improving its cyber security. Recently, the Kerala police announced that it will train 300 police officers as ‘Khakhi hats’ to fight cyber crime. The state, where politics is taken very seriously, has also the rise of hactivism. Recently, hackers took down a private engineering college’s website to protest the death of a student who was allegedly harassed by the faculty.

Also read: Exclusive: Interview with hacker group Legion

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