Israeli PM Assures Assistance In Cyber Security; How Badly India Needs It?

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has assured to co-operate with India in cyber security ahead of his Indian counterpart’s three-day visit to Israel scheduled for July 4.

Netanyahu stressed the need for investing in cyber security by saying that it is not only a "serious threat", but also a "serious business".  A recent study by software company ‘Symantec’ revealed that India ranks fourth when it comes to online security breaches. Thereby, Israel’s cooperation in the cyber security area becomes even more crucial for India.

In the wake of recent cyber attacks like ‘WannaCry’ and ‘Petya’, which crippled many government and private organizations, Israel’s assistance comes at the right time. Terming his nation a technology giant Netanyahu said, “Today when you talk about cyber or advanced technology, it is an advantage to say we are an Israeli company. The whole world wants us,” at the Cyber Week 2017 conference in Tel Aviv University.

Pukhraj Singh who played a key role in the setting up of the cyber operations centre of the Indian Government after the 26/11 attacks told BW Businessworld, “Cyber security, unlike conventional defence against weaponized technologies, works in an extremely dynamic fashion – we are talking about things moving at machine speed. There are probably a dozen strategic parameters to the equation – from supply chain integrity, hardware security, the underground cyber arms bazaar, the loyalties of foreign cyber security vendors, the incursions of the state-sponsored cyber actors to the geopolitical nuances of the game. Israel’s position and hegemony in the field are enviable. This tiny innovation nation racks up 10 per cent of the global cyber security trade.  They are netting around $774 in foreign exchange per capita as per my calculation.”

“I believe that rather than treating it as a one-sided technology acquisition programme, a strategic partnership to nurture each other’s’ ecosystem would make more sense in the longer term. Cyberspace is thought of as an asymmetric battlefield, even smaller players can carry a big impact – that’s how India may want to perceive it,” he added.

There is an urgent need to provide an impetus to the cyber security ecosystem in India. Singh who also co-founded a cyber intelligence platforms company called Bhujang said, “We still have miles to go. The Indian cyber security market is largely stuck in the consulting maze. India’s ‘cost arbitrage’ may serve the consulting companies well, with low costs and high margins, but it doesn’t add any value to the innovation ecosystem. Information is the oil of the future. Like other nation states wanting to take it seriously, an attempt at indigenizing the product market has to take place, pronto.”

The digital mode of transaction which got an impetus after demonetization is not safe in India as out of the 27 cyber risk advisories issued by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, nine pertained to modes of digital payments such as mobile banking, electronic wallets, micro-ATMs and Unified Payments Interface. In early September last year, there were reports of details about India’s top secret Scorpene submarine program being published online.

The success of the Digital India project would also rely upon maximum connectivity with minimum cyber security risks. Thus, in light of such serious threats, the government needs to take more action to mitigate the threat and reassure the public of cyber safety.