Cyber war has moved from fiction to fact. Cyber terrorism is one of the biggest challenges India is facing. The cyber terrorist today is an extremely intelligent mind whose only job is to try and destabilise a particular country, its institutions or its networks for the purpose of creating terror in the minds of the people.
Pavan Duggal states, “A cyber terrorist, who is jamming or effectively de-stabalising the network could have far bigger ramifications and that is where I think India really needs to work hard in terms of coming up with distinct laws on cyber crimes.”
If we see globally, the recent case of cyber attack is with Iran. Iran has been targeted by a second computer virus-Stars virus-in a cyber war waged by its enemies, according to its commander of civil defence Gholamreza Jalali.
Prof Srivathsan, Pro VC, IGNOU elaborates, “The concern is regarding professional and academic approach to deal security. Every data has its multiple attributes. Different parties have right to own it. We need to evolve certain data models i.e. what is data and who owns it.”
A major tool of cyber warfare is key-loggers, which is a software program or device designed to monitor and log all keystrokes. Key-loggers are intended not to steal source code or information but to record the data input into a computer, to be used for financial fraud.
Prof K Subramanian, Director, Advanced Center for Informatics & Innovative Learning, IGNOU, IT Advisor, CAG of India, “Cyber has no territorial boundary. Identification mapping in citizen to citizen and asset classification are challenges in cyber security space. Management, technology assurance, financial and network audit, service delivery assurance and forensic aspect should be covered in security considerations.”
In the wake of increasing cyber crime in India, the Information Technology Act, 2000 was amended in February 2009, but it remains insufficient tool to effectively protect the nation from a cyber onslaught. While, laudably, the new Act legislates against the growing menace of identity theft, phishing and violation of privacy, it does not even contemplate the tools of modern cyber crime.
As per B Bhamathi, “The country needs a detailed regulatory, legal and policy-enabling regime to facilitate further protection and preservation of cyber security. Government needs creating a national body to evolve a fine balance between cyber data protection and privacy of citizens as the society and businesses become a part of the huge electronic ecosystem. Cyber security can be achieved if interwoven with corporate governance.”
From power stations to sugar factories, dam sluice gates to suburban train signalling systems, banks to stock exchanges, most complex systems are largely controlled by computers. If hostile elements gain control of these decidedly civilian establishments, they can create havoc. Therefore, cyber security has to go beyond securing overtly sensitive systems such as in the government and the defence network.
