Pan-India cyber security grid needed

BENGALURU: The Modi government is making an attempt to create a cyber secure nation and is reportedly set to unveil its cyber security strategy policy later this month.

The 2013 cyber security policy was more like a framework that outlined the aims and goals that India needs to achieve to secure its cyber realm.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, cyber crime on its own is said to have doubled in 2017 compared to 2013. Last year, Kudankulam Nuclear Power plant and Indian Space Research Organisation faced cyber attacks.  

“India is said to be 2nd or 3rd most cyber-attack prone country in the world by some standards and analysis according to an International cyber firm report. Unless culled at their growth phase now, they are poised to rise manifold in the next few years given that AI, IoT and 5G are going to make the field more complex,” said Amit Mukherjee, an academic researcher at National Institute of Advanced Studies.

The 2013 policy was aimed at creating a workforce of four to five lakh to meet with India’s cyber security requirements, of which according to the stated reports, only about 10% is said to have been achieved.

“A pan-India dedicated cyber security grid is envisaged that would maintain the entire national Internet user-base on dedicated platform for monitoring service mechanisms (Indian). Although joining this service could be left to the choice of individuals and groups, it is essential that several networks and data centres be created to avoid centralised structure to increase protection from breaches. The three elements of cyber infrastructure i.e. Network, Services and Data, not merged into a single service entity, would enhance the security construct,” he adds.

In China, there is a link between integrated network electronic warfare and ground warfare. Within the Indian Army, even though there is a doctrine on cyber security, there is little discussion on the merger of electronic warfare with cyber warfare. Discussions are on whether India should adopt a consolidated approach on the same lines.

“The Armed Forces are constantly upgrading their network centric capability. The current cyber coordination chief Lt. General Rajesh Pant (retd.), who happens to be founding member of India’s Electronic Warfare programme, ‘raises concern in unifying the Information warfare narrative from the services,” Mukherjee said, quoting the chief.

“The coordination between military and civil bodies within the country needs to be enhanced without overlaps. The Cyber Defence Agency that came into being recently in 2019, possibly a prelude to a Cyber command, is tasked to meet with these requirements. As of now the agency is coordinating a war game with other organisations to vet its Cyber Defence capabilities,” Mukherjee added.