Companies and governments all over the world are increasingly interested in investing in cyber resilience making India a cybersecurity hotspot

According to computer security experts, India is quickly becoming a talent hotspot for the global cybercrime sector, owing to delayed recruiting in the traditional software industry, the attraction of easy money and a lack of law enforcement. Hacking into computer networks and creating malware are among the services outsourced to cyber-mercenaries in India via underground markets. Botnets – hacker-controlled machines used to conduct crippling assaults and shut down websites – may be rented for as cheap as US$2 (Rs 125) per hour.

After establishing itself as a worldwide hub for IT services and goods, India is on course to become the epicentre of the cybersecurity product industry, with increased occurrences of cyber assaults during the pandemic that is fuelling this expansion.

According to a recent report by the Data Security Council of India (DSCI), the national industry body on data protection, the number of Indian cybersecurity product firms has increased to over 225 in 2020 from over 175 in 2018, with revenue increasing to over $1 billion in 2020 from $275 million in 2016, representing a CAGR of around 39%.

Between 2018 and 2020, the number of people working in the Indian cybersecurity product industry increased by 25%, to around 18,000 people. Cisco, CrowdStrike, Lucideus, FireEye and Symantec, among others, have important R&D facilities in India, and indigenous cybersecurity businesses are experiencing growing business from both local and foreign firms as the epidemic pushes demand for cloud usage, remote working technologies and cost optimization. "It's heartening to see that 63 percent of the [cybersecurity] systems studied have AI-ML capabilities, 78 percent are cloud-ready, and firms in specialty fields like Quantum and Blockchain are rethinking traditional cybersecurity stacks," said DSCI CEO Rama Veda Shree.

According to the DSCI, over 20% of cybersecurity companies were founded in the previous two years, with Bangalore, Mumbai/Pune, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad and Chennai serving as the most important hubs.While the total amount raised in the previous four years has been roughly US$490 million, fundraising has increased by 88 percent year over year from 2017 to 2018.

As the complexity of cyber threats forces organizations to tighten IT security, Lucideus, a cybersecurity start-up headquartered in Palo Alto with R&D in Bengaluru, saw top-line growth of about 250 percent in the October-December quarter.

According to Lucideus' founders and CEO, India's standing as a global engineering powerhouse, a strong national digital vision by politicians, and the existence of institutions with extensive research skills make the country a worldwide hub for cybersecurity R&D and a gateway to Asia.According to the research, India accounts for 63 percent of global cybersecurity product sales, with the United States coming in second with 16 percent. While the BFSI and IT industries provide the most revenue, healthcare, e-commerce and manufacturing are developing at a rapid rate in the aftermath of the epidemic.

According to the research, India accounts for 63 percent of global cybersecurity product sales, with the United States coming in second with 16 percent. While the BFSI and IT industries provide the most revenue, healthcare, e-commerce and manufacturing are developing at a rapid rate in the aftermath of the epidemic.

In terms of the predicted growth in the Indian cyber security products market, data protection and endpoint security would rise at a faster pace. The adoption of linked devices, bring your device (BYOD), and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies is expected to expand in the endpoint category.

As more businesses utilize digital technology, network security tools are becoming increasingly important. The market for network security products in India is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15.3 percent from USD 257 million in 2019 to USD 394 million in 2022.Incident response and security testing services are projected to be the main drivers of demand in the Indian cyber security services industry, according to forecasts.

Security consulting services, which comprise cyber security strategy planning, policy formulation, creating security architecture, and other services, are predicted to increase at a CAGR of 12.2 percent over the next three years, reaching a market value of USD 157 million by 2022.In India, the market for security testing services, which is one of the fastest-growing, is expected to expand from USD 201 million in 2019 to USD 325 million in 2020. By 2022, the market for security testing services will be worth a million, with a CAGR of 17.4%.