Koral ‘Purnoor’, Democratic Front, Chandigarh – 02 November:
INDO-US WORKSHOP ON BIOTECH INFORMATION SECURITY
Panjab University is organizing a two-days workshop on “INDIAN BUILDING INFORMATION SECURITY TO PREVENT THEFT OF BIOTECHNOLOGY EXPERTISE AND ASSETS” from Nov.3-4, in collaboration with US Department of State’s Biosecurity Engagement Program (BEP) and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL)/ Global Chemical and Biological Security (GCBS) Group, USA.
The workshop is an initiative to spread awareness among scientists and researchers so as to protect their IP, biotech assets, products and data from cyber espionage and theft. Various academic institutes, pharma, vaccine and biotech sectors are vulnerable to cyber attacks. Recent such cyber attacks (ransomware and data encryption) on ICMR, AIIMS and PGIMER healthcare data and CoWIN data are the awakening calls for Govt. of India to make stringent cyber security legislation, develop impenetrable cyber security infrastructure, collaborate with genuine private players and spread awareness, starting from school and higher education curricula.
The coordinators of this workshop – Prof. Prince Sharma (Microbiology) and Prof.NeenaCapalash (Biotechnology) – have been organizing several workshops on Biosafety and Biosecurity since 2014, in collaboration with SNL and BEP. This workshop will be the first of its kind attempt to make scientists aware and help them develop cyber security programs for protecting their biotech IP, data and products. About 20 scientists/researchers from PU and colleges in Chandigarh will participate in-person and about 125 from various parts of India will join online in this hybrid mode workshop.
Dr. Cecelia Williams from SNL, USA will talk about the risk emerging technologies pose in cyber terrorism. Dr. Corey Hudson will discuss about Emerging Biotech and Genomics Vulnerabilities. Dr. Minh Ly (James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. Middlebury Institute for International Studies)will talk on Indian Innovations Security Risks. Prof. Prince Sharma (PU) will talk about Strengthening National Cyber Security System to Prevent Cyber Threats in Vaccine Sector.
