Date:04/01/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/01/04/stories/2006010402771900.htm

Back Security in IT destinations — no cause for panic

K.G. Kumar

Soon after the Bangalore attack, the Tamil Nadu Police beefed up security in various parts of the State, including armed police pickets at TIDEL Park, Indian Institute of Technology, Anna University, and the Central Leather Research Institute, among other institutions.

THE year just gone by ended on a rather sad and shocking note for the scientific community and the world of knowledge workers.

M.C. Puri, Professor Emeritus in the Mathematics Department of Delhi's Indian Institute of Technology, was killed and four others injured after unidentified gunmen opened indiscriminate fire on the campus of Bangalore's Indian Institute of Science (IISc) late Wednesday evening last week, when an international seminar was in full swing.

Not surprisingly, the repercussions of that attack are being felt in the world of information technology (IT). Last Wednesday's terrorist attack at the IISc is a "wake-up call for everybody", Mr C.N. Kumar, Convenor, Bangalore Forum for Information Technology, said. And Mr B.V. Naidu, Director, Software Technology Parks of India, Bangalore, said the industry "need to take extra precautions" to prevent such incidents.

More importantly, the reputation of Bangalore as a "safe" city has taken a beating. So too, by implication, have all other IT destinations in the South of the country, long touted as a haven for the IT and knowledge industries, being reportedly relatively distant from the violent disruptions that affect other cities.

The Karnataka Director-General and Inspector-General of Police, Mr B.S. Sial, said there was no specific input from Central intelligence agencies on the terrorist attack, but they had suggested that Bangalore was a "soft target" for terror attacks. That is the impression that needs to be dispelled by southern IT destinations like Bangalore.

For Kerala, all this does not appear to have created much of a flutter, probably because of a misplaced sense of security. Ironically enough, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) recently ranked Kerala's commercial capital, Kochi, second in the "Super Nine ITES Cities" - above Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi and Pune.

Nasscom's reasons for the selection was the presence of the SEA-ME-WE-3 and SAFE submarine cable landings, which also makes Kochi VSNL's primary international gateway in India, and industrial parks like the Infopark, situated midway between the seaport-airport highway, and the Kinfra Export Promotion Industrial Park.

These are just some of the positive aspects about Kochi that attracted Nasscom's attention. If Kochi and Kerala's other high-tech destinations hope to retain their attractiveness in the wake of the concerns thrown up by the Bangalore incident, security has to be given top priority.

As Mr Anant R. Koppar, President, Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce, said, "We can fight terrorism only through stringent security measures at sensitive locations and by creating greater awareness among people, especially those in the technology sector. It has become extremely important that companies invest in monitoring individuals who work directly or indirectly in organisations and invest in intelligence system on their premises."

Apart from investing in security systems and practices, Kerala's IT firms also need to spread awareness about terrorist and sabotage tactics. But, importantly, they need to do all this without creating needless panic or confusion.

If they can take simple and effective steps to tighten up existing security systems, that itself will go a long way to reassure both investors and workers in IT destinations.

The writer can be contacted at kgkumar@gmail.com