Thursday, July 3, 2014

India Is A Sitting Duck In Cyber Security Field Says Praveen Dalal

Cyber security has become a nightmare for India. For considerable period of time India ignored cyber security to its own detriment. Now past mistakes are haunting Indian government and India cannot do anything except issuing statements and warnings. However, these statements and warning have no value and impact at all to cyber adversaries across the world.

Cyber security in India is simply beyond the contemplation of our politicians and government. The cyber security challenges in India are tremendous and our government is sleeping over the matter. Other countries are invading Indian cyberspace with no difficulty or challenge at all.

According to Praveen Dalal, managing partner of New Delhi based ICT law firm Perry4Law and CEO of Perry4Law’s Techno Legal Base (PTLB), India is a Sitting Duck in the Cyberspace and Civil Liberties Protection Regime. Malware like Stuxnet, Duqu, Flame, Uroburos/Snake, Blackshades, FinFisher, Gameover Zeus (GOZ), etc cannot be tackled by India due to lack of Offensive and Defensive Cyber Security Capabilities. Cyber Security Breaches are increasing World over and India must be “Cyber Prepared” to deal with the same. The Cyber Security Challenges before the Narendra Modi Government are not easy to manage and Indian Cyberspace must be protected on a “Priority Basis”.

Governments ranging from Congress to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have done nothing to improve the privacy laws in India and cyber security of India. Even the Narendra Modi lead government has done nothing except summoning of few officials of United States for blatant violation of privacy rights of Indians and invading Indian cyberspace.

In these circumstances it would not be wrong to declare that India is a sitting duck in the field of cyber security. These days cyber security is an integral part of national security as well. The national security policy of India must also incorporate cyber security as an essential component. Only time would tell whether Modi government would be successful in bringing privacy rights to Indians and meeting the cyber security challenges of India.