An area of emerging concern to Indian security

Going by the statistics, cyber warfare has turned out to be one of the serious threats to Indian security. It is in fact considered as the “next generation of threats”. Recent cyberattack on the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMs) is a case in point.  Reportedly, over 1.9 million cyberattacks were made targeting India’s health sector alone. India has always been among the top five targets of malicious activity on the Internet that ranges from virus, Trojan, malware, identity theft, hacking, cyber stalking, cyber squatting, spamming, email-bombing, email-spoofing, cyber defamation, web defacement, data diddling, web jacking, denial of service attack, key logging and Internet time theft. The threats we face range from individual criminal hackers to organised criminal groups, from terrorist networks to advanced nation states like China and Pakistan. Defending against these threats to our security, prosperity, and personal privacy requires networks that are secure, trustworthy, and resilient. Our digital infrastruc­ture, therefore, is a strategic national asset, and protecting it—while safeguarding privacy and civil liberties—is a national security priority.

The present concern relates to cyberspace turning into “a force multiplier for terrorist networks in India and abroad, driven by the sophisticated use and unlimited access to Internet and computer technology.” Taking advantage of the anonymous nature of the Internet, terrorists use cyberspace for communications, geographic mapping, recruitment, fund raising and, most importantly, intelligence gathering. With increasing vigilance on the traditional channels of communications (such as tracking of e-mails, mobile phones, etc), terrorists have now resorted to using new tactics, for example, not sending e-mails but saving them as drafts in an encrypted manner or even through blogs. Many organised terror groups pitched against India host websites and use fixed Internet sites to communicate with their partners. There have been known incidents in India where terrorists have resorted to several other innovative techniques, such as using bulletin boards and other websites that provide free uploading services,…