Pune Smart City & DSCI to organise cyber security hackathon; release cyber security policy

To promote cyber security and data privacy in the smart cities, Pune Smart City Development Corporation (PSCDCL), in collaboration with Data Security Council of India (DSCI), will be conducting a Cyber Security Hackathon and release a cyber security policy for the Pune Smart City. The hackathon will focus on various technology layers and solution areas with the aim to identify and mitigate the vulnerabilities across the elements and components across IoT, application and network layers in the smart city solutions.

The hackathon aims to sensitise on the cyber security and data privacy objectives of the city to make itself cyber safe and secure for its residents. Pune Smart City Development Corporation will also release a cyber security policy for the Pune Smart City. The Cyber Security Policy and Framework, developed in partnership with DSCI, will provide guidance to its departments to ensure that the cyber security and data privacy is maintained across all elements of people, process and technology.

Rajendra Jagtap, CEO, Pune Smart City, said, “Our partnership with DSCI, focusing on cyber security in a Smart City, started several months sho. We have been an early starter amongst the other Smart Cities in this important area and we look forward to partnering DSCI on this hackathon on cyber security over and above working with them on other areas of strategic interest.”

Commenting on this initiative, Manojit Bose, Chief Knowledge Officer, PSCDL, said, “Cyber security is a critical component of a Smart City architecture. As cities attempt to digitally transform themselves leveraging the legacy applications and emerging technologies there is a significant increase in the attack surface. We look forward to our partnership with DSCI to imbibe some of the best practices in this domain including partnering them in this first-of-its-kind hackathon at a city level.”

Rama Vedashree, CEO, DSCI, said, “The Smart City initiative focuses on sustainable development of Smart Cities and harnessing digital technologies for an integrated citizen services delivery; hence, it calls for a strong focus on cyber security. Given the ever-increasing threats, use of apt security technologies and controls to cyber secure our Smart Cities and its functioning is of prime importance. We are honoured to partner with Pune Smart City on development of the cyber security policy framework for city and promoting the awareness by organising a cyber security hackathon for Pune Smart City.”