PROTECTING INDIAN CYBERSPACE
Cyberspace today is a singular entity connecting all elements of comprehensive national power.
Lieutenant General MU Nair, National Cyber Security Coordinator
Technology is being used effectively in many ongoing conflicts, while nations with high technology thresholds also fail to detect challenges.Multiple actors are attempting to influence public opinion through technology-intensive platforms, weaving the flavour of the time.
Disturbances owing to ongoing conflicts, supply chain infections causing turbulence in global peace and harmony, impact of information operations focused on populations leading to destabilisation of adult franchises in electing future leadership of nations are some manifestations of technology in the handsof enterprising users. With technology changes moving ahead at a rapid pace, it is human ingenuity that can make the best use of it.
While there have been references to the dominance of technology in Israeli–Hamas and Russia-Ukraine conflicts, the Indian experience may differ due to the terrain along our northern borders and the communication connectivity available in these remote locations. Indian northern and western borders are unique, having multiple mountain ranges all along the international borders and necessitating heavy dependence on the electromagnetic spectrum for connectivity with terrestrial communications prone to breakdowns. The mountain ranges limit line of sight and make communications and surveillance systems prone to the vagaries of weather. This will be the scenario for many other similarly placed nations, too. The highest geographical feature in Ukraine is 2061 meters compared to India's where features above 4000 meters are commonplace.
Cyberspace today is a singular entity connecting all elements of comprehensive national power. Decisions are made by leaders, political, military or in any field at any level based on information available. The information available has multiplied a thousand times and is mostly based on automated means, all driven through the power of ICT networks. Being digital, the information can be manipulated or altered, which impacts decision-making. And, hence, cyber security today is an important and integral part of national security.
In a country like India, where the digital public infrastructure has undergone a dramatic transformation over the past decade and is growing rapidly, the scope of interference in our digital infrastructure is large. The transformation approach adopted in embracing digital technology, reaching out to every citizen of our country, has paid rich dividends.
Digital Reach to The Masses
Today, the Indian digital landscape extends to nearly 1.37 billion citizens out of the 1.40 billion population. Benefits ranging from the financial sector to the health sector are being provided to the population in their hands or at their fingertips. Besides the citizen-focused programmes, there are a large number of measures adopted by the government where digitisation has been the pillar of good governance. These include the UPI, the Aadhaar, the income tax portals, the health mission, and the Digi Locker, all citizen-focused. The Smart City project, the Gati Shakti (All the existing and proposed economic zones have been mapped along with the multimodal connectivity infrastructure in a single platform) are efforts of digitisation coveringmultiple ministries and organisations.
All these efforts, combined with the rapid expansion of communication networks and applications of niche technology tools, have made the ICT ecosystem of India extremely complex. Multiple service providers, ranging from small operators to telecom providers with a global presence and many data centres with tremendous capacities, now operate within India. The complexity is increased multi-fold when we look at a very large device ecosystem, the IoT ecosystem and applications that ride on our networks, making it a very potent cyber security threat.
The impact of information operations carried out through cyber-based platforms is a trend noticed over the past two decades. Decisions are being made, be it part of the electoral process, governance issues, or even, for that matter, military operations through what one sees and hears on social media platforms. Disruptive technologies of recent times have complicated the matter further, drawing a thin line between what is fact and what is fiction.
The impact of cyberspace to manipulate the energy and health sectors has several examples, some in the recent past. The telecom and ICT sector is yet another critical area where disruption can cripple government control structures leading to information voids, especially in a military operational scenario.
Disruptive Abilities of Cyber Security
The art of waging war has many tenets, including the use of technology. What has changed in the recent past is the rapid proliferation of disruptive technologies coupled with miniaturisation, precision location and guidance, and enhanced surveillance over land, sea, air, space, underwater and even in cyberspace, leading to situational awareness and decision-making becoming more complex. And all these are connected through the umbilical cord of the cyberspace. As a routine and part of government machinery, one does not feel the significance of cyberspace security as a crucial or critical factor warranting priority attention, investments, and monitoring.
In today's networked world, a nation’s entire financial or industrial or military might can be completely crippled through acts in the cyber domain. Nations, organisations, and industrial conglomerates realise the impact of cyberspace operations only when they face the brunt of it. For instance, the Indian cyberspace has seen cyber incidents at an average of 2127 times during the past six months, much more than the global average of 1108. Over the past ten months, ransomware attacks have cost payments of nearly $1.54 million on average, double since 2022. These payments are just the tip of the iceberg since several incidents go unreported. What, then, is a solution to cyberspace being used for causing trepidation, destruction and death at times? It's time for countries to rally together to contain and limit disruptive practices in cyberspace. There are many initiatives in this direction under the UN and regional forums where nations are looking for solutions to cyberspace, not being confined to national boundaries.
The advent of AI, generative and predictive, has resulted in uneasy manifestations that can cause turbulence in our societies. Do we change with time and adapt to these emerging technological marvels or attempt to part such ventures through legislation is something the nations are grappling with now.
For the military community, emerging technologies, especially in cyberspace, present many opportunities and challenges.
Initiatives To Curtail Disruption
In the recent context of international security, a group of experts was appointed by the United Nations General Assembly to study cybersecurity issues. The report was adopted in 2021, which is an important contribution to developing international cyber security. The report provides for common understanding of the challenges and opportunities of cyber scrutiny and identifies several key steps that can be taken to address these challenges. It focuses on the increased sophistication of cyber-attacks, the growing reliance on information communication technologies, and the lack of international norms and principles for responsible state behaviour. Some of the recommendations they have given include the development of international norms and principles for responsible state behaviour, promoting international cooperation and strengthening national cyber security capabilities. There is also an ad hoc committee to elaborate on the comprehensive international convention on countering the use of ICTs for criminal purposes. This ad hoc committee is mandated to develop a new treaty that is more comprehensive than the existing UN convention on cybercrime and addresses the challenges of the evolving cybercrime landscape. The new treaty is expected to cover many cybercrime offences, including cyber-attacks against critical infrastructure, cyber terrorism and cyber espionage. It's also expected to include stronger provisions for international cooperation and information sharing.
The Counter Ransomware Initiative, or CRI, is a global initiative launched by the United States in 2021 to combat the growth of the threat of ransomware. CRI addresses several key objectives, including disrupting ransomware actors and their networks, strengthening resilience against ransomware attacks, and improving international cooperation on ransomware.
Some initiatives are taken under the QUAD working group on cyber security under the QUAD umbrella.
Notwithstanding, a lot more needs to be done in the cyber domain through international cooperation. The tools for waging technology-induced disruptions have increased potency and ingenuity in recent years.
The concept of nationhood today is threatened by activities in cyberspace. Despite several initiatives by governments and the industry to address these concerns, a perfect solution is a remote possibility, considering the enormity of the challenge. A fast-changing technology landscape and the ingenuity of human mankind require a common effort from multiple nations, organisations, governments, academia and industry as also the civil society to get together and identify ways ahead to plug loopholes, create policies and procedures, create legal mandates to eliminate or at least reduce the impact of cyber hostilities and influence operations which can today have an impact on not only nations but also our citizens.
