India’s National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, while inaugurating a National Cyber Exercise (NCX) on Monday, said that India must safeguard its cyberspace. He said that any threat to the nation’s cyberspace directly impacted the country’s social, economic and national security.
India is conducting a National Cyber Exercise (NCX) seminar to train people in the senior management and technical staff of the government on contemporary cyber threats and handling cyber incidents to combat internal and external threats. This hybrid exercise is being conducted from 18 to 29 April in association with the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS). The seminar is also supported by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) with the Data Security Council of India (DSCI) as the knowledge partner. As per reports, the platform for training is being provided by CyberExer Technologies, an Estonian cyber security company accredited for globally conducting several large-scale cyber exercises.
An official from the National Security Council Secretariat said, “More than 140 officials will be trained through training sessions with strategic exercises. The participants will be trained on various key cyber security areas such as intrusion detection techniques, malware information sharing platform (MISP), vulnerability handling and penetration testing, network protocols and data flows, and digital forensics.”
The National Security Advisor of India further said that a digital revolution was taking place in India while referring to the launch of a large number of digital services by the Indian government. Shri Doval stressed that cyber security remained the foundation of any successful digital transformation and that any threat to the digital world might impact the country in many ways.
Speaking on the occasion, Lt Gen Rajesh Pant, the national cyber security coordinator, referred to the importance of cyberspace and the necessity of keeping it secure and safe for the citizens, businesses, and governments. He spoke about the ransomware attack on Oil India Limited and the cyber warfare in the global scenario. “The government of India is taking various steps to build capacities and enhance skills in cyber security.”
It is to be noted that India has been working on a cybersecurity policy for the last two years. The policy proposes a multi-stakeholder framework to check propaganda, deception, disinformation, and “adversarial narratives” on social media.
