"There Were Lots Of Attempts...": ISRO Chief To NDTV On Cyber Fraud

India's phenomenal growth in the digital domain in the last few years has also brought with it new challenges in cybersecurity, ISRO Chairman Dr S Somanath told NDTV.

The top scientist said he is no different from anyone else in receiving spam calls and other attempts at fraud. He said he has never been a victim of cyber fraud, luckily, due to having awareness and knowledge about it.

"Of course not a victim, but there were lots of attempts, like all of you would have faced, like telephone calls... None of them succeeded," Dr Somanath told NDTV to a question on cyber fraud.

The chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) laid the foundation stone of the cybersecurity facility called 'Cyber Nalanda' in Bengaluru. It is the brainchild of SISA, a global forensics-driven cybersecurity solutions company.

"The growth in the digital domain in India is really phenomenal. In the last few years we have seen the growth of digital payment infrastructure, use of digital infrastructure for education and learning, even in trade and commerce. Related to that cybercrimes are also growing. So it's a two-pronged approach. One, you need to increase the digital ecosystem. And two, you need to handle threats which are mostly from outside the country," Dr Somanath said.

"It's a national requirement to strengthen cybersecurity. It also happens in the private ecosystem," he added.

On why the upcoming facility has been named 'Cyber Nalanda', Dr Somanath said it will work as a research and development ecosystem in cybersecurity through collaboration with other partners and academic institutions, and Nalanda was where collaboration of ideas used to happen.

Satellite Launch Market

The ISRO chief said the space agency is working on building giant rockets to send heavier satellites into space. At the moment, Dr Somanath said, the satellite launch market is a very demanding one due to the world not having enough rockets.

"... There are not enough rockets in the world. There are more satellites than rockets. But then the launch market is a geopolitical thing. It is not the numbers alone that matters. But the cost, political influence, regional demands, all of these matters. So we are trying our best to build more rockets and make them available for commercial ventures," he told NDTV.

"There is a demand for small satellites, that's why a lot of startups are working on this. In the middle level, we have PSLV, which is doing very well. In the high level, we don't have enough capability. We are trying to develop," he said.

On how he feels about ISRO's upcoming major launches, Dr Somanath said, "There's no nervousness at all."