Securing Critical National Infrastructure Of India From Cyber Attack

This is the updated version of my previous article on similar topic. Lots of changes have taken place since then and it is essential to incorporate those changes in this new piece of article.

The cyber security trends in India 2011 by Perry4Law’s Techno Legal Base (PTLB) indicate that cyber security in India is still ignored by various stakeholders. Whether it is banks or strategic computers of Indian government, all of them have proved to be vulnerable to cyber attacks.

Highly sophisticated malware like Duqu, Stuxnet, etc targeted India in the year 2011 and India is still investigating the Duqu malware. Indian nuclear facilities, automated power grids, satellites, defense networks, governmental informatics infrastructures, etc are vulnerable to sophisticated cyber attacks. It is still not clear whether Indian satellites are safe from cyber attacks.

We must ensure sufficient cyber protection of SCADA systems in India in general and critical infrastructure in particular. In short, Indian defense and security against cyber warfare needs to be streamlines to meet the growing cyber attacks upon its critical infrastructures.

We do not have a cyber security policy in India that clearly stipulates the cyber security strategy of India. An effective legal and policy framework for cyber security must be created and the human dimension of cyber security must be addressed.

Although there are numerous aspects of Cyber Security Policy of India yet Critical Infrastructure Protection in India and Critical ICT Infrastructure Protection in India are the most important aspects of the same, informs Praveen Dalal, leading techno legal expert of India and managing partner of New Delhi based techno legal law firm Perry4Law. The Critical National Infrastructure of India is under constant cyber attacks and India must urgently do something in this regard, informs Dalal.

Experts like Praveen Dalal also feel that India does not have strong and effective cyber laws to deal with issue pertaining to critical infrastructure. India is blind towards cyber law, cyber security and cyber forensics requirements. The IT Act, 2000 is a poorly drafted law and badly implemented legislation. It is weak and ineffective in dealing with growing cyber crimes in India as it is the most soft and cyber criminal friendly legislation of the world.

See Cjnews India for more.