By- Rajat Pandit, TNN
After the first four "real" battlefields of land, air, sea and now increasingly space, India needs to get serious on the virtual front as well. The country should begin planning a full-fledged military cyber command, instead of the current piecemeal and disjointed steps to bolster cyber security, grappling as it already is with incessant online espionage and other attacks from China, Pakistan and others.
This was the clear takeaway from the deliberations on cyber security and cyber warfare at the high-profile Munich security conference on Sunday, even though hardly figured in the discussions. experts said, the emergence of "cyber weapons" like the Stuxnet Software "Worm" that was used to sabotage Iran's nuclear program, had changed the entire security ball game, almost on a par with the use of nuclear bombs in 1945.
"Someone used a cyber weapon in peacetime to physically destroy what the nation(Iran) could describe as its critical infrastructure. It was a new class of weapon that caused a thousand centrifuges in Iran to self-destruct", said, General(rtd) Michel V. Hayden, former CIA director.
Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt expressed fear that the risk of terrorist or others getting hold of cyber weapons was possibly much higher than nuclear weapons. "stealing and using Stuxnet might be more easy and dangerous than nuclear weapons" he said.
Well executed cyber attacks after all can cripple a nation's military assets and strategic networks, energy grids and banking, communications and "infrastructure". moreover, unlike missiles or bombs, which can be traced back to an adversary for retaliatory strikes, here the enemy remains unknown.
Stuxnet is a case in point, though a few fingers were pointed at Israel, as also the US, the exact origin of the "worm" still remains unknown. So, it no wonder several countries like the USA and the UK have setup cyber military forces to thwart deadly attacks that can come from anywhere anytime.
India too has reasons to worry, China-watchers in India say Beijing already has 2-3 "hacker Brigades" and 30000 computer professionals in its Militia. China based online Espionage gangs have been regularly accessing classified documents from several Indian security establishments.
After the first four "real" battlefields of land, air, sea and now increasingly space, India needs to get serious on the virtual front as well. The country should begin planning a full-fledged military cyber command, instead of the current piecemeal and disjointed steps to bolster cyber security, grappling as it already is with incessant online espionage and other attacks from China, Pakistan and others.
This was the clear takeaway from the deliberations on cyber security and cyber warfare at the high-profile Munich security conference on Sunday, even though hardly figured in the discussions. experts said, the emergence of "cyber weapons" like the Stuxnet Software "Worm" that was used to sabotage Iran's nuclear program, had changed the entire security ball game, almost on a par with the use of nuclear bombs in 1945.
"Someone used a cyber weapon in peacetime to physically destroy what the nation(Iran) could describe as its critical infrastructure. It was a new class of weapon that caused a thousand centrifuges in Iran to self-destruct", said, General(rtd) Michel V. Hayden, former CIA director.
Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt expressed fear that the risk of terrorist or others getting hold of cyber weapons was possibly much higher than nuclear weapons. "stealing and using Stuxnet might be more easy and dangerous than nuclear weapons" he said.
Well executed cyber attacks after all can cripple a nation's military assets and strategic networks, energy grids and banking, communications and "infrastructure". moreover, unlike missiles or bombs, which can be traced back to an adversary for retaliatory strikes, here the enemy remains unknown.
Stuxnet is a case in point, though a few fingers were pointed at Israel, as also the US, the exact origin of the "worm" still remains unknown. So, it no wonder several countries like the USA and the UK have setup cyber military forces to thwart deadly attacks that can come from anywhere anytime.
India too has reasons to worry, China-watchers in India say Beijing already has 2-3 "hacker Brigades" and 30000 computer professionals in its Militia. China based online Espionage gangs have been regularly accessing classified documents from several Indian security establishments.
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