Thursday, December 29 2005 14:50 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: Long considered being on the terror radar, the booming IT industry in the country's tech hub is shocked at yesterday's (Dec 28, 2005) terrorist attack and says it would do more to beef up security of the tech firms but feels the incident would have no adverse bearing on the IT sector.

The attack has, perhaps, come as a 'wake up call' for Bangalore, an IT hotspot for the global tech firms which accounts for almost one third of India's software exports and has often been said to be on top of the terrorists' hit list.

"This (the attack) is very shocking and cowardly coming as it does on innocent persons. It is sad that it happened in an academic institution where you do not want to be constrained, that too at an international conference", said Kiran Karnik, President of NASSCOM, apex body of the software industry.

On the IT firms being considered 'soft targets' and their vulnerability to such attacks, Karnik said security is tight in tech firms even now and they do keep reviewing it.

The IT companies did have a 'tight security regimen' .

But, "We will work with the government what additional steps we need to take to further tighten the security", he said.

The IT industry would work with the police and seek their guidance.

He did not share the perception of the police that the IT firms were considering security a low priority area.

Karnik did not feel that the terrorist attack in Bangalore would impact the IT industry adversely. He said terror attacks had happened in other cities of the world.

"We don't think it will have an adverse impact," he said.

Som Mittal, President of Hewlett Packard Globalsoft Limited, said the IT firms do have tight security, though they were not equipped to handle situations such as a terrorist attack which required a specialised training.

"We will however beef up security. We will seek the help of police", he said. The country had enough experience in tackling terrorism, and the IT industry would seek guidance of professionals.

"It is a wake-up call for everybody", said C N Kumar, Convenor of the Bangalore Forum for IT.

He said security had to be a collaborative effort involving both the IT industry and the security agencies. "

The industry, Government and police should work together and nexchange information if there is a threat perception," he said.

Kumar said while it is true that the police might not have all the resources required, they could share their expertise with the industry.

Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), Bangalore, Director B V Naidu said the attack was 'shocking' and 'we need to take extra precautions'.

The IT firms need to be more cautious and beef up security.

On the impact of the attack, he said any such incident "creates a panic and scare" and therefore, security must be beefed up to prevent recurrence.

Soon after the attack, the Karnataka police had yesterday asked the IT and BT firms to beef up security and not just depend on the Government security agencies to do the job.

"We would request the industries to tighten and step up security for their own economic development, instead of only depending on police and security agencies", the state DGP B S Sial had said while criticising companies who considered investing in security set-up a 'wasteful expenditure'.

The IT and BT firms were 'soft targets', he had said.

That Bangalore is a terrorist target had been laid bare by the Delhi police only on Monday last when they had claimed to have foiled a terror plan that included attacking software parks in the city and Hyderabad.