US tech giant Microsoft sets up cybersecurity engagement centre in India

US tech giant Microsoft has set up a cybersecurity engagement centre (CSEC) in the Delhi-NCR region that will help it work with partners to identify and respond to cyber threats in the country.

The India centre, which is the seventh such facility for the company globally, will function as a satellite to Microsoft's Redmond Digital Crimes Unit (DCU).

While Microsoft declined to comment on investment details, it said the company invests about USD 1 billon annually in the area of security research, innovation and development.

"The CSEC's mission is to help build a trusted and secure computing environment, a critical enabler for India's digital transformation. It will works towards fostering deeper cybersecurity collaborations with public and private sector organisations for this," Microsoft India Chairman Bhaskar Pramanik said.

The company ran a year-long pilot out of its Gurgaon office, under which its team met with over 100 organisations in the country.

Based on those conversations, the team observed three common IT environment issues (which are also the highest cybersecurity risks) plaguing organisations in India -- unmanaged/unregulated IT assets usage, poor knowledge of cyber hygiene and inability to timely monitor, detect and remove cyber threats.

"We believe security of critical information is imperative for our corporate customers, just as it is vital to ensure security and privacy of citizen data and transactions. Our first investment towards this was setting up our local datacenters in India last year, and now launch of the CSEC," he said.

The other cybersecurity centres operated by Microsoft are located in Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, China, Berlin and Washington DC.

Asked about the size of the India centre, Pramanik said: "While the India team itself will be a compact one, the center will be operated in affiliation with the Redmond DCU team and comprises of over 100 legal and technical experts worldwide.

We'll leverage these resources to support the India cybersecurity environment."

The centre is also expected to help the company collaborate with government organisations to quickly and reactively address cyber threat and cyberattacks.