The New Indian Express By

Pentagon, America’s defence establishment, has in a report identified China’s government and military as guilty of hacking what was believed to be secure information technology systems. It has, more or less, substantiated an earlier report by Mandat, a computer security body, that held China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as responsible for 140 cyber intrusions and thefts since 2006. It identified the PLA as the world’s worst offender in this regard. Of course, China has taken serious objection to the charge levelled against the nation. The point that needs to be noted is that cyber security has become a major issue that agitates leading nations of the world.

India has also been a victim of cyber intrusions and hackings but the subject has not engaged the desired attention of the government, though India is considered a giant in information technology. As people and governments depend more on computer systems linked through the Internet, the damage hacking can cause is unimaginable. For instance, the travel plans of millions of passengers and the schedules of thousands of trains will be affected adversely if someone is able to hack the Indian Railways’ online reservation system. It will be terrorism without any explosion and bloodletting.

Some government departments have experienced such hackings but they do not seem to have heeded the dangers. What’s worse, the government has been unable to secure even its defence research networks against cyber intrusions. The National Security Council has supposedly been working towards creating some sort of a platform for cyber defence but progress has so far been nil. The UGC has rightly requested vice chancellors of technical universities and institutions to introduce cyber security and information security as subjects of study. National security adviser Shiv Shankar Menon, a civil servant, is hardly in a position to install a proper cyber defence system. The government has to look for experts to deliver the goods.