The Andhra Pradesh government, which is promoting digital technologies in a big way, is also giving equal importance to cyber security, which is a high priority area for the state, according to AP IT Minister Nara Lokesh.

He was speaking to the media here on Friday after participating in the inaugural of a conference on cyber security jointly organised by the AP government and Mastercard. He said the state government had signed an MoU with Mastercard to bring in best practices in the field of cyber security and also to promote fintech in the state, with Visakhapatnam as the main centre.

The minister said, "As we are implementing digital solutions for delivery of public services and creating the right ecosystem for developing fintech in the state by introduction of new technologies such as blockchain, cyber security is of the utmost importance to us. Mastercard will assist us in the endeavour."

He said the new technologies should be applied to the agricultural sector as well to find cost-effective solutions and "credit rating for farmers is one area we are working on to facilitate easy and timely credit to farmers."

Ravi Aurora, Executive Director, Mastercard, said his company had always given the highest importance to cyber security "as it is an essential prerequisite for ushering in a digital, cashless economy. Protecting individuals and businesses from cyber attacks is our major concern and we have multiple layers of security to prevent such attacks."

J.A Chowdhary, IT adviser to the AP government, also spoke of the need for a safe and secure cyber ecosystem. On the occasion, the winners of Cyberthon, a hackathon organised by the state government, were felicitated.

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