To tackle cyber threats and potential crimes better in the information era, the Indian government in association with the Armed Forces is developing the Defence Cyber Agency, Lt Gen M M Naravane, GOC-in-C, Eastern Command, said Tuesday. Instead of an exclusive army-led venture, this will be an inter-service agency, he clarified, further adding that units will be set up all over the country to
Its composition
Currently in its final stages, the facility once operational will pool in resources from all three wings of the
The first ever dedicated cyber wing in the army will have close to a 200-strong staff from the tri-services. They will serve under the command of the Chairman, Chief of Staff Committee and work closely with the National Cyber Security Advisor.
It will be headed by a two-star rank officer and come under the supervision of the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) which works to foster coordination and enable
To begin with, the Defence Cyber Agency will be based out of the IDS Headquarters and later dedicated units will come up with the Army commands.
“The entire proposal is still under the formulation. Of
The initiative was announced during Army Day celebrations at Fort William, Kolkata, which houses the Army’s Eastern Command headquarters.
Objective
The need for a
As cyber warfare reshaped threat perception around the world, the Indian government grew rightly concerned over the existing gaps in dealing with such
Although the newly minted division’s course plan and immediate goals are not clear, a lot is riding on the new project. After its formal inauguration later this year, people will possibly have a better understanding of how it stands to protect the army and the country from data theft, malware attacks, financial crimes
Last January, Pakistan-based hackers had hijacked the website of National Security Guard (NSG) and posted anti-India content on it.
After the border stand-off in Doklam in November, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) stepped up cyber vigilance by advising all soldiers posted on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) against using 42 social media applications including WhatsApp WeChat, Truecaller, Weibo, due to plausible security concerns.
The lack of adequate security measures in Narendra Modi’s Digital India has been an issue of concern and was brought up at the Lok Sabha earlier this year. Over 700 websites connected to the central and state governments have been hacked in the past four years.
Prarthana Mitra is a staff writer at Qrius
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