Government, Industry and Academia Roundtable on Cybersecurity at IIT Delhi

December 19, 2013: 

Sh. Ram Narain, DDG, Department of Telecom, Government of India highlighted Cybersecurity challenges and Government strategy in 4 main areas of Telecom Network Security, Information and Data Security, National Security and Robustness/ Resilience in case of eventuality. He laid focus on guiding principles of Government policies ensuring Cybsersecurity are such that they help in building national capacities and whatever guidelines are formulated need to be cost effective citing that if the Security policy is highly costly, then it would be practically impossible to implement. He also mentioned the need for balance to the Security of Data and Information and assistance to Law Enforcement agencies for monitoring of Information exchange for National security. He specifically noted the need for systems to ensure traceability of a user through country wide allocation of IPv6 addresses. In the area of International Cooperation for ensuring Cybersecurity, he pointed out the need for level playing field for developing and developed countries and that instead of advising, countries should be communicating. With this approach, issues of cybersecurity could be solved in a much faster and much meaningful manner.
Brig. A Ghosh, National Security Council noted setting up of Joint Working Group under the chairpersonship of Ms Latha Reddy, Deputy National Security Advisor to work out the roadmap for engaging the private sector in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) for strengthening the cyber security architecture in the country. JWG includes representatives of both government and private sector. He said that the Institutional framework includes setting of a permanent JWG, with representatives of government and private sector, to coordinate and oversee the implementation of PPP on cyber security. He also mentioned that a Joint Committee on International Cooperation and Advocacy (JCICA) will advise JWG in promoting India’s national interests at various international fora on cyber security issues. He also mentioned that several Industry associations have been invited by the Government including FICCI, CII, TEMA, NASSCOM, DSCI, MAIT, COAI, IMI and AUSPI.
Art Gilliland, Senior Vice President – Enterprise Security, Hewlett Packard noted the recent trends of involvement of state and not-state actors No longer the threat of jamming critical infrastructure, but stealing information that is of interest to state/ non-state actors. He mentioned that Government, Industry and Academia in India are competing against a market that is advancing and specializing to outsmart the technologies and processes. He highlighted the importance of Government to formulate robust policies and Industry to build national capacities to ensure Cybersecurity for the country.
Dr. Kamlesh Bajaj, Chief Executive Officer, Data Security Council of India noted recent incidents have demonstrated that Cybersecurity is critical for national security. While the intelligence agencies have to master the use of cyberspace, cyberspace has no boundaries, even though nations are trying to police and control activities within their jurisdictions. Traditional dividing lines between defence and security, civilian and defence, military solutions and law enforcement, the public and private sectors, are breaking down. No single ministry can handle all facets of cyber security; there is a need for coordination. He mentioned that
Lead agencies have to be appointed and empowered and involvement of private sector is essential because the networks and critical infrastructure are largely owned by the private sector. The government has to launch public-private partnership [PPP] programs to protect critical infrastructure. He specifically called for a cultural change in outlook.