With arch-rivals in the region mounting cyber attacks and breaches on India’s civilian and military infrastructure, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to convene a high-level meeting to review cybersecurity and data protection in order to make the critical structure more resilient to hybrid warfare.
Aware of the growing number of cyber-attacks, stringent measures have been implemented in both the North and South Blocks, with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) taking full-scale precautions to prevent data theft via introduced malware or cyber-bugs.
While the government remains tight-lipped about cyber-security, the situation is more dire than the National Informatics Centre suggests. The PMO has also taken strong measures to ensure that video conferences presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi are not jeopardized by unauthorized entry or participation.
Although much of India’s concerns are classified, the Modi government is aware of the threat posed by arch-rivals and is collaborating with friendly countries such as the United States and France to build powerful firewalls to ward off attacks.
The gravity of the threat can be gauged by the fact that Singapore allegedly tipped India off to Chinese cyber-attacks on Indian military installations during Pakistan’s retaliation to the Indian Air Force’s attack on terror camps in Balakot on February 26, 2019.
While the Indian military operates in an air bubble and security agencies on stand-alone servers, the Modi government is concerned about how to completely protect government e-mails, health, transportation, finance, power, railways, and education critical infrastructure from enemy cyber-intrusions. The Chinese attack on AIIMS Delhi servers was just one of many crippling attacks launched by China’s northern neighbor.