India has put in place systems to counter global cyberattacks that could impinge on national security — both physical and economic.
This assumes significance in the context of revelations that the US National Security Agency (NSA) had been helping itself to data from just about every major American Internet company. Sources said the Union Cabinet and the Cabinet committee on security have cleared two policies — National Cyber Security Framework and National Cyber Security Policy — that will involve public-private partnership to tackle any threats from the cyberworld and related emergencies. Such a cyber network infrastructure was necessary in the wake of possible attacks from state and non-state actors, corporates and terrorists as the Internet world has no geographical barriers and was anonymous in nature.
On the reports about leaks by a former technical assistant of CIA about the US National Security Agency gaining access to information from billions of Internet users, the sources said governments do what they want to do notwithstanding agreements not to do so.
“We don’t live in a perfect world. You sign agreements and feel everything will be set right. No it doesn’t happen that way,” the sources said adding countries have to be prepared to face any such problems. It could be America’s way of showing their capacity to use a system, they said.
The sources said the department of electronics and information technology would formally release the policy in public at a workshop later this month to enable a national debate and awareness on the issue. But they declined to go into the nature of the protective system incorporated.