India Us Cyber Security Cooperation Agreement Signed

India and US have been cooperating in the cyber security field for long. However, due to some bad experiences, India and US cyber security forum was closed. Now India and US have once more revived the cyber security cooperation between themselves. This was an anticipated move to remove the deadlock that was preventing a mutual cooperation in the field of cyber security between these two countries.

Now under the India US homeland security dialogue, a deal between the Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-IN) and Computer Emergency Response Team of US (US-CERT) has been finalised. CERT IN and CERT US are the lead agencies in the respective countries to respond to cyber attacks.

The CERT-IN and US-CERT are likely to sign a Memorandum of Understanding for sharing of expertise in artifact analysis (study of traces of virus and worm), network traffic analysis and exchange of information. They also decided to cooperate in capacity building and to work together, and with other countries, to advance cyber security standards.

The US, while making public the strategy, called for global partnerships to set international computer security standards with penalties for countries and organisations that would fall short. Though the US did not single out any countries while releasing the strategy, it seems intended to prod China and Russia to allow more internet freedom, crack down on theft of intellectual property and bring into force more effective laws to protect privacy of computer users.

US has already made clear its international strategy for cyberspace. To achieve this goal the US will build an international environment that ensures global networks are open to new innovations, interoperable the world over, secure enough to support people’s work, and reliable enough to earn their trust.

This is a good step in the direction of bilateral cyber security initiatives. However, international organisations must play a more direct and pro active role to fight cyber crimes. It is good to see that international community is getting serious to fight the nuisance of cyber crimes.

India-US Homeland Security Dialogue

India and United States (US) have in the past worked in the direction of homeland security. In fact a cyber security forum was started between India and US that faced some troubles and it became obsolete. Now talks are in progress to revive Indo US homeland security dialogue once more.

A special emphasis has been laid upon counter-terrorism co-operation, intelligence sharing, technology transfers and capacity building. Homeland security in India is at the infancy stage. Issues like cyber law, cyber security, cyber espionage, cyber terrorism, cyber warfare, etc are still not considered while formulation national policies of India.

At Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) we are managing the exclusive techno legal cyber security research and training centre of India (CSRTCI). The centre is covering areas like cyber law, cyber security, cyber forensics, critical ICT infrastructure protection, cyber warfare, cyber terrorism, cyber espionage, national counter terrorism centre (NCTC), national intelligence grid (Natgrid) of India, crime and criminal tracking networks and systems (CCTNS), etc.

CSRTCI is supported by Cyberspace Human Rights Protection Centre of India that is working in the direction of reconciling the conflicting interests of national security and civil liberties protection.

The proposed Indo US homeland security dialogue must address many crucial issues ranging from cyber law to cyber security. Issues like encryption, technology transfer, international cooperation to fight cyber crimes and terrorism, etc must also be a part of national policies of both US and India.

PTLB believes that besides addressing these issues the proposed India US dialogue must also concentrate upon mutual trainings and skills development issues in the abovementioned fields. India particularly needs skill development trainings for intelligence gathering and their analysis. In all probability, this would be a fruitful and productive dialogue between India and US.