Cyber Command And Control Authority Of India

Cyber security is an issue that has always been ignored by India. As a result, cyber security of India is in a poor condition. Cyber security is not mere formulation of policies but their actual implementation. At this level of implementation, Indian government fails miserably as it lacks the techno legal skill necessary to implement cyber security policies.

India needs skilled techno legal professionals who can implement the cyber security policy of India. As a matter of fact, till now we have no cyber security policy in India and we need to formulate a good one as soon as possible.

India must formulate effective Preventive and Offensive Cyber Capabilities to safeguard its Cyberspace and Critical Infrastructure, suggests Praveen Dalal, managing partner of New Delhi based techno legal firm Perry4Law and leading techno legal expert of India. India must develop Cyber Warfare Capabilities as soon as possible, suggests Dalal.

There is no doubt that Indian national security must have information warfare as an essential component. Taking clue from various suggestions of techno legal experts of India, the Manmohan Singh government is in the process of establishing a cyber command and control authority for India. This would be a centralised mechanism that would be placed under the National Security Adviser who reports to the PM.

This is a good step in the right direction, says Dalal. This was a much needed initiative that has, at last, got the attention of Indian Government. The only thing that remains to be seen is how effectively this initiative would be handled by Indian Government, says Dalal. Let us see how the National Security Adviser would proceed with this initiative.

Critical ICT Infrastructure Protection In India

Critical ICT infrastructure protection (CIIP) is becoming more and more crucial these days. The reason is very simple to understand. These days many crucial functions of private and government are essentially connected with the computers and computers systems. If these computers or computer systems are compromised, much damage can be done to the country where such breach has occurred.

Although the importance of CIIP is well understood by India yet it has not taken any active steps in this regard. There is neither a cyber security policy of India nor is there any strategy in this regard. Even there is absence of basic level of cyber security training in India and cyber security research and development in India.

Till now we have just one techno-legal cyber security research and training centre in India (CSRTCI). The same is managed by Perry4Law, the exclusive techno-legal firm of India. The CSRTCI has been managing the techno-legal aspects of cyber security for long. Some of the areas of its specialisation pertain to cyber law, cyber security, cyber forensics, cyber war, cyber terrorism, cyber espionage, corporate espionage, critical ICT infrastructure protection, CCTNS, Natgrid, NCTC, etc.

However, CSRTCI is also a part of much larger and highly specialised initiative providing protection to human rights in cyberspace. The human rights initiative is also the exclusive initiative providing techno-legal measures and remedies against cyber terrorism in India and cyber war in India.

Except this private initiative, there is no other initiative that is providing techno-legal solutions against cyber terrorism, cyber war, cyber espionage, etc. Sooner or later India would also need to take measures to protect CIIP.

Cyber Security Policy Of India

By
V.K.Singh

Cyber security in India has not received the attention of Indian policy makers. As a result India has witnessed many sophisticated cyber security attacks against its computer systems operating at crucial departments and places from time to time. Even the terrorists are using technology to further their nefarious objectives in India. The problem is that Indian government, like any other government, is not capable of tackling cyber security issues single handedly. It needs private sector support to achieve this task.

According to Praveen Dalal, Managing Partner of the exclusive techno-legal cyber security research and training centre of India (CSRTCI), cyber security in India needs an urgent rejuvenation. He informs that till now Indian government has not thought it fit to consider cyber security as a part of National Policy.

It is obvious that India is finding it difficult to gather necessary cyber security expertise and this is resulting in a weak cyber security. Fortunately, private initiatives like CSRTCI are bridging the much needed gap of cyber security in India. The centre is providing techno-legal solutions for areas like cyber law, cyber security, cyber forensics, cyber terrorism, cyber espionage, critical ICT infrastructure protection, cyber war, etc. It is also providing techno-legal solutions for Indian projects like CCTNS, Natgrid, NCTC, etc.

CSRTCI also maintains a “repository” of software and tools for areas like cyber security, cyber forensics, penetration testing, malware analysis, encryption, stegnography, etc. It also maintains a rich techno-legal literature, articles, databases, etc for ready reference.

However, the most important and crucial achievement of the CSRTCI is that it has an “Exclusive Techno-Legal Repository” of software and research literature. It also has expertise for “aggressive defence” and human rights protection in cyberspace. In short, it is a single place destination for the techno-legal cyber security and allied fields.

The government of India and private sector of India must concentrate upon cyber security as soon as possible. Further, there is an emergent need to make proper amendments in the otherwise impotent, weak and ineffective cyber law of India. The increasing cyber crimes in India is also attributable to the “welcoming law” of India incorporated in the information technology act 2000 that instead of deterring the cyber criminals is in fact encouraging them to indulge in cyber crimes.