Chanchal Garg aked: What efforts India is making towards cyber security? Wouldn't indigenisation of telecom equipments help?

Cherian Samuel replies: The government has been contemplating various steps to strengthen cyber security within the country. These include the delegation of responsibilities of securing cyber space to various agencies that have the capability to undertake these responsibilities and dialoguing with various stake holders including the private sector which owns much of the cyber infrastructure.  That said, administrative and technical measures form only part of the solution. Many of the current threats require a response in the form of user education; the general population has to be apprised of basic cyber security measures, and law enforcement and judicial professionals also have to be updated to deal with cyber issues. Much of this is happening, but at different speeds, since policy making and responsibilities are spread across different ministries. Moreover, areas such as law and order are the domain of the states.   A nodal agency on cyber security has been suggested to have a holistic approach to cyber security as against the fragmented approach that currently prevails

As far as the indigenisation of telecom equipment is concerned, many countries are considering similar steps. This is the case because telecom and data networks are the arteries that connect the various critical infrastructures. However, the dispersion of technical know-how and manufacturing capabilities across the world, and cost considerations, and the lack of an eco-system in telecom component manufacturing within the country, just to name a few factors, are the challenges to operationalising such a policy. Many of these issues are addressed in the IDSA Task Force Report on Cyber security available here