Skip to main content

India And USA Sign Cyber Security Deal


India and the US today inked a pact on cybersecurity to intensify information exchange on threats to computers and networks and initiate joint work on technologies against cyber-attacks.

A joint statement on the India-US strategic dialogue has announced the cybersecurity agreement among new initiative by the two countries. These initiatives also include a plan to develop a software platform to make available non-sensitive government data to the public and to award $3 million each year to entrepreneurial projects that commercialise technologies to improve health.

A memorandum of understanding between the Indian and the American Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERT) is expected to lead to routine exchange of information on vulnerabilities and co-operation on cybersecurity technologies, Indian CERT officials said.

“This comes at a time when cybersecurity-related incidents are increasing in number and becoming more and more sophisticated,” said Gulshan Rai, director-general of the Indian CERT, a division of the ministry of communications and information technology.

Rai said the MoU is expected to lead to greater exchange of information between Indian and US CERTs about known and emerging threats, specific vulnerabilities of computers and networks and open opportunities for joint technology development.

The CERTs track and catalogue threats, advocate protective mechanisms, and respond to attacks on computer systems in the two countries.

The latest monthly security bulletin from India’s CERT says 151 computer security-related incidents were reported during May 2011 alone, among which more than half involved “phishing” — an attack or an intrusion that involves some form of identity theft.


Last year, unidentified hackers, believed to be based in China, had penetrated computers in sensitive Indian government offices, including the National Security Council secretariat, and stolen documents on missiles, and personal and financial data of Indian officials.

India already has cybersecurity pacts, primarily for the exchange of information, with Japan and Korea and is planning to develop one with Finland, Rai told The Telegraph.

The cybersecurity pact followed consultations led by the Indian and the US National Security Councils on prospects for bilateral co-operation on cybersecurity issues, held on Monday, a joint statement on the India-US strategic dialogue said.

The joint statement also said the Nasa has “reiterated its willingness to discuss potential co-operation with the Indian Space Research Organisation on human spaceflight”.

While the Nasa offer comes on the eve of the retirement of the US Space Shuttle, space experts believe Nasa has accumulated enormous expertise on human spaceflight — for instance, in the area of onboard life support systems — that could help India in its own long-term plans to develop a space capsule large enough to carry two astronauts into a low-earth orbit for a short mission.

The open source software platform that India and the US plan to create is intended to help make available to the public all non-sensitive government information through a user-friendly website.

It is expected to be patterned on the lines of America’s own government data website Data.gov which began with 47 government data sets in May 2009, but has more than 392,000 data sets today.

“We have all kinds of data there — data sets on infant car seats, airline statistics, hospitals,” said Aneesh Chopra, the chief technology officer in the US, who is also assistant to US President Barack Obama.


Read More AT:
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110720/jsp/nation/story_14262786.jsp

 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Pakistani JF-17 A Thunder OR A Blunder

Pakistan has witnessed new defense acquisitions in this decade than any other, and in the center of it all is the new fighter which was designed by China with partial funding from Pakistan. It is formally known as JF-17 Thunder. When the fighter was in development, Pakistani online communities were jumping with excitement comparing it with its arch rival India’s modern combatants Su-30MKI, Mig-29S & Mirage-2000H. There were claims of it featuring western Radars and long range missiles, & Chinese ordering some due to its superior capabilities. But the reality is far from it. China having spent significant amount of money into a fighter which it is never going to use, most probably forced Pakistan to accept its avionics to offset some its development costs. Chinese who are known for their self reliance first and quality next, are further downgrading JF-17s capabilities with their poorly copy-pirated avionics. Along with their dubious weapons, any chance of JF

Mossad & CIA Committed 9-11: Italian President Francesco Cossiga

Source: http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=114778 Former Italian President Francesco Cossiga, who revealed the existence of Operation Gladio, has told Italy’s oldest and most widely read newspaper that the 9-11 terrorist attacks were run by the CIA and Mossad, and that this was common knowledge among global intelligence agencies. The evidence that Mossad planned 911 using Arab patsies is overwhelming; Mossad were caught filming the attack from Liberty Park and then later said on Israeli TV that they were sent there to document (they along with nearly 200 Mossad were rounded up and sent back to Israeli in the weeks following the attack, preventing the FBI from questioning them). Only 5 Israeli's died in the WTC attack; 3 on the airplanes and 2 in the buildings. It is a fact unexplainable by Zionists apologists that Idigo, and Israeli messaging service sent a warning in Hebrew worldwide that a terror attack would happen in a few hours on the da

India Planned Attack On Pak Navy Mehran Base To Kill Chinese Engineers

The terrorist attack on Karachi's Mehran Naval Station on May 22 was conceived and launched by India with the primary objective of killing the Chinese engineers present there, a Pakistani newspaper has claimed, citing 'informed sources'. Four to six Taliban terrorists had entered PNS Mehran on May 22, destroying two maritime surveillance aircraft and killing ten military personnel during their 17-hour siege of the naval air base. "India is the only country in the region that feels troubled by the Pakistan Navy, which had awfully beaten the Indian Navy in Operation Dwarka of 1965. Since then, it has been an earnest desire of India to harm the Pakistan Navy but it was perhaps not possible on the battle front, hence it struck the PNS Mehran," The News quoted sources as saying.