Offensive And Defensive Cyber Security Capabilities Of India Must Be Established

Cyber security in India has always remained an ignored world whether it is Congress or BJP govt. Neither Congress nor BJP has the vision to ensure a safe and robust cyber security in India and till October 2022 the position of Indian cyber security is very bad.

In 2012, Visionary Praveen Dalal suggested many far reaching and reformative cyber security measures but both Congress and BJP failed to act upon them. One of the suggestions of Visionary Praveen Dalal in 2012 was that Offensive And Defensive Cyber Security Capabilities Of India must be developed as soon as possible. However, even in October 2022 that has remained a distant dream.

Even Cyber Warfare against India and its defenses have remained an illusive dream and till October 2022 India is a sitting duck in cyber security field. India has focused upon illegal and unconstitutional e-surveillance instead of strengthening of Rule of Law, Privacy, Civil Liberties in Cyberspace and cyber security. As a result, India is facing tremendous cyber attacks and cyber crimes in the year 2022.

In the year 2014, Visionary Praveen Dalal brought to the attention of Modi Govt the challenges of cyber security but it failed to act upon them even in October 2022. Now Indians are bearing the consequences of the same and cyber crimes, cyber frauds and digital payment related crimes have increased significantly in India. This all is well attitude of Indian govt is not good for the national interests of India and that is why we have ensured a robust and effective cyber crimes reporting system in India.

So bad is the situation that even cyber security breach reporting in India has failed to take off since 2014. Except chasing away cryptocurrencies and VPN service providers from India, this norm has not done anything. MSMEs and small companies in India openly declared that they would not comply with such rules and this forced the govt to further extend the deadline. So one can simply refuse to comply with cyber security related norms and Indian govt cannot do anything in this regard.

To develop robust Offensive and Defensive Cyber Security Capabilities of India, we need a 360 degree view of the cyber security landscape of India says Visionary Praveen Dalal. But what we have is lack of political will, unwillingness of stakeholders to ensure cyber security and lack of cyber law and cyber security skills in India. We at Perry4Law Organisation (P4LO) and PTLB have been working on all these aspects and techno legal online skills development from K12 to lifelong learning stages in one of our priority areas.

For instance, Streami Virtual School is the only school of the world that is teaching cyber law and cyber security to school students. Streami Virtual School is the first virtual school of India and first techno legal virtual school of the world. This is the approach that we need for India but political parties like Congress, BJP, AAP, etc are engaging in rhetoric and drama instead of actually working upon reforming education and ensuring skills development of Indians.

Till we have a capable govt and capable and skilled workforce, ensuring offensive and defensive cyber security capabilities of India is not possible. We at P4LO and PTLB have done our part and now those stakeholders who believe in same cause must do their part.

Cyber Warfare Against India And Its Defenses As Suggested By Visionary Praveen Dalal In 2012

It was the year 2011 when Visionary Praveen Dalal provided his recommendations to Congress govt regarding cyber warfare policy and development of offensive and defensive cyber warfare capabilities by India. However, both Congress and BJP have failed to act upon cyber security of India till October 2022.

Cyber Warfare is a concept that is well known at both national and international levels. In one form or other and in lesser degree or more, Cyber Warfare has been accepted as a reality in the present Cyber World. However, Cyber Warfare concept still haunts the international community and till now we have no dedicated Legal Framework for Cyber Warfare at international level.

Till Harmonised Cyber Warfare Legal Framework emerges, piecemeal efforts would try to fill the void in this regard. Not very late NATO requested Cyber Security cooperation form India. We should not wait for others to develop our own Cyber Warfare Capabilities in India. In fact, Cyber Warfare Policy of India must be urgently formulated and immediately implemented. The same must be part and parcel of India’s National Cyber Security Policy.

Cyber Security in India needs to be strengthened keeping in mind the growing cases of Cyber Attacks and Cyber Espionage attacks against India. Even Cyber Warfare against India is well known and is not new. Ensuring 100% cyber security is next to impossible. However, we can minimise Cyber Attacks. India has remained indifferent towards Cyber Security for long. This resulted in poor Cyber Security Capabilities and Expertise. It is only now that India has paid attention to this crucial field and it is still not too late.

India should definitely step up/accelerate its efforts to strengthen Cyber Security along with Traditional National Security Capabilities. Internet and Hidden Internet has opened new frontiers and unforeseen challenges before India. Internet is increasingly been used to not only propagate Terrorism propaganda but also to recruit new Terrorists.

To tackle Terrorists’ use of Internet, International Cooperation amongst Governments, Organisations, Internet companies and telcos could be helpful. For the time being, Cyber Criminals/Terrorists are one step ahead of various Governments and International Cooperation activities.

New technologies have also caused problems for India. For instance, Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VOIP) is one of the technical challenges that Law Enforcement and Intelligence Agencies across the world are finding difficult to tackle. However, of late strong Encryption usage has emerged as more troublesome that VOIP. Further, VOIP can be intercepted in certain circumstances.

Developing of Cyber Security Capabilities and Expertise is immediately required in India. There is also an urgent need to develop both Preventive and Offensive Cyber Security Capabilities of India. The sooner it is done the better it would be for the National Security of India.

Cyber Warfare Policy Of India As Suggested By Visionary Praveen Dalal In 2011

Cyber warfare is a complicated techno legal conflict of laws field that has remained unresolved for more than two decades. India lacks preventive and offensive cyber warfare capabilities despite strong recommendations in this regard by Visionary Praveen Dalal in 2011. Both Congress and BJP are responsible for this mess and negligence.

Cyber Warfare is a concept that is not clear yet. Some believe that there is nothing like Cyber Warfare as there is no involvement of traditional military actions. Others believe that Cyber Warfare is a reality of the present time and future wars would be fought in Cyberspace. Whatever the opinion may be but it is clear that Nations have to protect their Critical ICT Infrastructures and Strategic Computers from growing Cyber Attacks.

Cyber Warfare and Cyber Terrorism are issues that cannot be taken lightly by any Country. From these threats emerge the necessity of having a robust Cyber Security for Defense Forces in India. These issues are important as they strike at the very root of the Critical ICT Infrastructure Protection in India. However, India is not doing the needful in this regard. Cyber War Capabilities should be an Integral Part of Indian National Defense and Security.

India needs a sophisticated and robust Technological Command Centre to defend its global network of computer systems. It must develop both offensive and defensive capabilities under one roof. Strategic information and tactical inputs are essential part of modern warfare that can be lost or gained through Cyber War methods. There is no doubt that India needs good Cyber War Capabilities to meet the growing threats of Cyber Warfare.

Malware are posing significant threat to India yet there is no attention towards Cyber Security in India. For instance, we need Express Legal Provisions and Specified Policies to deal with issues like Denial of Service (DOS), Distributed Denial of Services (DDOS), Bots, Botnets, Trojans, Backdoors, Viruses and Worms, Sniffers, SQL Injections, Buffer Overflows Exploits, etc. Till now India has done nothing in this crucial direction and we are still waiting for the Cyber Security Policy and Strategy of India. Obviously, we have no Cyber Warfare Policy of India as well. Even the Cyber Law of India is weak and ineffective and deserves to be repealed.

The biggest hurdle before curbing Cyber Warfare Threats at the International level is Lack of Harmonisation in this regard. Till now we have no “Internationally Acceptable Definition” of Cyber Warfare. Further, we have no Universally Acceptable Cyber Crimes Treaty as well. There is also no International Cyber Security Treaty. India is not a part of any International Treaty or Conventions regarding Cyber Crimes, Cyber Security, etc.

We cannot have a Cyber Terrorism Policy in India till we have a Cyber Crimes Policy in India, Cyber Security Policy in India other similar Policies. Indian Government must urgently work in this crucial direction as it is the most urgent need of the hour.

Cyber Warfare Capabilities Must Be Developed In India Opined Visionary Praveen Dalal In 2011

In this interview from 2011, Visionary Praveen Dalal suggested that cyber warfare capabilities of India must be developed on priority basis. However, neither Congress nor BJP had the vision to do so and even in September 2022 this has not been done.

Cyber warfare is not a new term anymore. Although, its exact definition and scope is not clear yet none can deny the role of information warfare in the near future. Even India has also appreciated its importance. The best part is that this appreciation is coming from none other that the Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Dr. Manmohan Singh has issued clear directions to National Security Council (NSC) of India to work in the direction of establishment of cyber command authority (CCA) for India. Dr. Singh has also asked for putting in place an action plan before such an authority is set up. Dr. Singh has also rightly deferred the plan to set up CCA till a thorough review of the cyber threat is done.

However, India lacks proper expertise and training to undertake such an ambitious project and establish such an authority. We have a single techno legal cyber security research, training and education centre in India (CSRTCI). Further, we also have a single techno legal cyber security training and educational centre in India managed by Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB). Now Centre Of Excellence For Cyber Security Research And Development In India (CECSRDI) is maintaining techno legal cyber security issues of global stakeholders.

According to Praveen Dalal, CEO of Perry4Law Organisation (P4LO) and PTLB and Leading Techno Legal Expert of India, Cyber Warfare Capabilities have assumed tremendous importance these days. The future Cyber Warfare would be even more mysterious, anonymous and dangerous. Further, the Indian Government even need not to spend crores of cash for this purpose if it opts for “Open Source” Software, suggests Praveen Dalal.

So the matter boils down to appropriate cyber security policy and adequate techno legal training. Dr. Manmohan Singh must include as many institutions and individuals as possible so that cyber security of India may become robust and effective.