- Multi-city Cybersecurity roadshows to upskill ~100,000 developers.
- Leads industry-wide effort to combat transaction fraud with MEITY & Digital India.
- Google.org grants $2 Million to community organizations towards digital safety programs for women, seniors, and under-served users.
Naming cybersecurity as one of the top issues facing the world, Google today launched a broad, multi-pronged effort to protect people from online harm through an array of new programs, initiatives, collaborations, and investments in India. These efforts are aimed at strengthening the collective capability of the country’s growing digital economy against cyber threats. Unveiling these plans at the second edition of its annual Safer With Google event held in New Delhi, Google announced the launch of:
- A cybersecurity upskilling program for approximately 100,000 developers, IT, and start-up professionals across the country.
- A multilingual user awareness campaign supported by MEITY and Digital India Corporation to encourage millions of internet users to adopt better practices for safer digital transactions.
- The first-ever digital safety-focused grants of a total of $2 Million (approx. INR 16 crores) from Google.org in India to nonprofit organizations including Collective Good Foundation, Point Of View, and HelpAge India that will enable high-risk groups such as women, micro-entrepreneurs, seniors, and the LGBTQIA+ community to leverage the opportunity of the internet with safety and confidence.
Speaking at the Safer With Google event, Sanjay Gupta, VP & Country Head, Google India, said,
“As India progresses towards becoming a truly digitally enabled economy, it is critical that the opportunity of connectivity did not come at the price of online safety, and we all come together to build a safer internet for millions of Indians. We’re pleased that today, we are strengthening our efforts towards key immediate imperatives with the support of the Government while partnering with the user, the industry, and the social sector. I am also delighted that we’re launching a focused outreach for India’s developer ecosystem and building their capacity in placing cybersecurity at the core of their contribution to the digital economy.”
Shri Abhishek Singh, President & CEO, NeGD and MyGov, MD & CEO, Digital India Corporation,
“A cyber secure India is vital to achieving the transformational vision of Digital India – empowering every section of society and strengthening the country’s global stature as a nation, fast becoming a knowledge economy. As more and more citizens become included in the digital economy and derive the benefit of direct access to payments and transfers which are crucial to their progress and prosperity, we have been consciously creating infrastructure, capabilities, and programs that protect our citizens and our country from cyber threats. Investing in building a nationwide consciousness among citizens on cyber safety has been a key aspect of our efforts. We are very pleased that Google has collaborated with us on several of these initiatives. We are happy to strengthen our collaboration by supporting the new and timely efforts being launched today and look forward to their continued contribution to creating a Cybersafe India.”
Saikat Mitra, Senior Director & Head of Trust & Safety, Google APAC,
“Our foremost commitment is to protect our users’ online safety through a comprehensive, proactive and multi-pronged approach that is also responsive to India’s digital momentum. As local threat vectors evolve, our focus is on strengthening our defences against these, through safety enhancements in our products, adapting our policies to prevent misuse of our platforms, and identifying and weeding out threats at the root cause. As we go forward, we will continue to double-down on these efforts, joining forces with industry bodies, regulators, civil society organizations, and law enforcement agencies to share our technology, insights, and experience.”
Announcing the launch of the user awareness and community investments, Sapna Chadha, VP, Marketing, Google India & South-East Asia, said, “User awareness is one of the most effective defences against the machinations of bad actors and a powerful complement to our overall efforts in strengthening user safety. It is also a particularly important lever to make the internet more inclusive of women, senior citizens, language users, and LGBTQIA+ communities who can be vulnerable targets of these harms. We are pleased to invest in a range of efforts that help mobilize key user communities at scale and launch a new awareness campaign that spotlights the simple cautions that will keep users in charge of their digital and financial safety.”
Table of Contents
Cyberskilling roadshow to reach approximately 100,000 developers
Google will flag off a multi-city, mixed format Cybersecurity Roadshow to reach approximately 100,000 developers, IT and start-up professionals with unique tools, detailed guidance, and best practices on building safer apps by embedding security in all phases of development and adopting modern IT services. To support this outreach, a foundational cybersecurity curriculum will be integrated into the annual DevFest and within the Android and Cloud Series for Startups and other programs.
Multi-lingual awareness campaign for transaction safety
Recognizing the critical role of building awareness amongst users against digital fraud, Google has taken the lead in launching an industry-wide collaboration with India’s leading banks and telcos. Together with MEITY and Digital India, Google today rolled out a pan-India, multilingual user awareness campaign with support from HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Airtel, SBI, and ICICI. The campaign encourages people to adopt basic precautions to stay two steps ahead of some of the most common fraud, phishing techniques, and attacks. Google’s campaign partners will further create awareness for these precautions via their most used consumer channels such as websites, apps, SMS and ATMs.
Google.org grants $2 Million to nonprofits helping to expand digital safety skilling and support channels for high-risk communities
Google.org is supplying a grant to Collective Good Foundation (CGF) to reach over 900,000 people, focusing on women, LGBTQIA+ people and other vulnerable users, with a specially designed training curriculum and resources to safeguard themselves from online risks. The curriculum and content will be available in five languages including English, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, and Marathi. Google.org is also providing a grant to the nonprofit, Point of View, to support the expansion of TechSakhi, India’s first multi-lingual, omnichannel digital safety helpline for women and LGBTQIA+ internet users. The grant will enable Point Of View to create regional language content, pilot new outreach channels, and allow for capacity building of other organizations. TechSakhi will offer helpline support in Hindi, Bengali, Marathi and Tamil across 6 states including Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Tamil Nadu. To empower the elderly with the knowledge and skills to stay safe in online interactions and transactions, Google.org will make a grant to HelpAge India to reach 50,000 senior citizens with digital safety training.
Launches Child Safety technology toolkit in three Indian languages
In line with its commitment to making the web a safer place for all, including for children as they learn and explore, Google today launched its ProtectingChildren.Google website in three Indian languages: Bengali, Hindi, and Tamil, inviting collaboration with Indian NGOs and organizations. Google already equips qualifying partners free of charge with its child safety toolkit, which consists of the Content Safety API and CSAI Match, two tools that enable our partners to better fight abusive content. Google’s current global partners are using these technologies to collectively process billions of files each year, allowing them to evaluate millions of images and videos for abusive behaviour.
Expands Be Internet Awesome digital safety training to CBSE Board teachers across the country
Building on the successful delivery of a teacher training pilot launched in 2021 based on the Be Internet Awesome curriculum, Google is now joining hands with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to scale this program to more educators through a combination of webinars, Master Trainer programs, and in-person events with the aim to equip students to develop strong and safe digital habits. In addition, Google is also joining hands with Sheroes, a women’s community platform, to offer a 10-part customized online safety video series for its members. Presently available in English and Hindi, this on-demand curriculum will focus on the fundamentals of online safety such as password protection, avoiding suspicious emails and unsafe sites, and other ways to stay safe online.
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