The EC-Council had initiated the research report among 10,000 college students this year to measure the sensitization towards InfoSec skills and associated risks, he said.

The findings of the report indicate that Indian engineering students have below average understanding of basics of secure programming, a critical part of cyber security.

While the current curriculum has some introductory topics on the subject, it is not provided as a separate subject yet in Indian universities.

A relatively smaller chunk of the talent pool is seen at the more extreme end of the spectrum, indicating advanced understanding of the subject.

The Indian IT-BPO industry is currently sized at around 100 billion dollars, but to continue creating software that serves the world, secure programming holds high importance since it is the foundation of every software.

"Given the fact that 86 percent of students are unprepared and have low awareness of cyber security, the role of industry and academia becomes all the more challenging," Bavisi pointed out.

Incidentally, India declared its first National Cyber Security Policy July this year, with plans to create 500,000 InfoSec professionals by 2015.

As per industry data, currently only around 34 of the roughly 500 Indian universities offer courses in the InfoSec domain.

Read More:

6 Jobs That Are High On Pay And Low On Stress

5 Career Paths That Open Door for Seven Digit Salary