'Anti-piracy can create 1,50,000 new jobs in India'

New Delhi, Nov 11: India can create 1,50,000 new software jobs by eliminating software piracy, Microsoft India's representative on security and genuine software Brian Campbell said.

''There will be almost over one and half lakh IT jobs in India, if the Government can curb the piracy,'' Mr Campbell told reporters here.

He said this will infuse 5.9 billion dollars into the country's economy and create additional revenue of 5 billion dollars.

Speaking on the occasion of 'Secure IT Environment for Foolproof Securities Trading', organised by CII, Mr Campbell said using pirated software would constitute a major security threat.

''Microsoft tested 348 counterfeit CDs in June 2006 and found 43 per cent had malicious software. It's the same with hacks, password and key generators available from websites,'' he said.

National Informatics Centre Deputy Director General K Subramanian said it is not a one-off phenomenon but has to be continuously upgraded and modified to suit the changes in cyberspace.

Mr Subramanian said that securities traders will have to use only certified software and hardware to run their online businesses very soon.

Low awareness among end-users is one of the reasons for poor IT security compliance in the country, he said adding that users also needed to know about incident testing and have a disaster management plan to minimise business disruptions.

''Security is everyone's business and applies to both traders and individual investors,'' National Stock Exchange Senior Vice President N Muralidaran said.

He agreed with Mr Subramanian's suggestion of developing a disaster management plan based on their security risk assessment.

He said this has to be followed by policies and monitored by auditing to ensure compliance.

UNI