Since the world is still at the ‘waking up’ stage to cyber threats, there are no clearly defined laws. Collateral damage may actually be the intention in this type of warfare. Also there needs to be clear delineation between the military and civilian cyber defence.

One of the subjects discussed between the US President Barack Obama and the Chinese President Xi Jingping during his visit to the US this June was cyber security. China’s recent cyber targets in USA included aerospace programmes, space shuttle design, command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance reconnaissance (C4ISR) data, nuclear weapon and cruise missile designs. Coming up north of Washington, at Fort Meade, Maryland, is a facility to house the $358 million ( Rs. 2,148 crore) headquarters of the US Cyber Command. They are expected to add 4,000 cyber warriors, quadrupling its size by 2015. The primary task will be to detect and defend against external computer/network penetration by China, North Korea and Iran. Charter of the first Commander, General Keith Alexander, is to defend American military networks and attack other countries’ systems. He would ultimately require 30,000 cyber soldiers. The government and private networks protection such as attacks on electricity grid, banking, telecom networks and industrial espionage will be the responsibility of homeland security.

World under Cyber Attack

Cyber warfare includes a host of activities that can be summed up as hacking computer networks for espionage and sabotage. The US has declared this as a greater threat than Al Qaeda. Defence from a cyber attack today is no less important than from a hard-kill weapon. The European Union has set up European Network and Information Security Agency. United Kingdom has a cyber security operations centre. China has a 50,000 specialist force engaged in cyber warfare operating from a Shanghai facility and has clear mandate to win future cyber wars. Other countries actively preparing for the ‘Silent Wars’ are Russia, Israel and North Korea. Iran claims to have the world’s second largest cyber army. Israel faces over 1,00,000 cyber attacks a day.

Recent reports of India being among the top five countries compromised by the US surveillance resulted in the formation of the National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) whose primary job will be to carry out a real-time assessment of cyber security threats and provide actionable reports. According to data compiled by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, more than 1,000 government websites storing critical and sensitive data concerning national security have been hacked in the last three years. Early this year, suspected Chinese hackers reportedly breached the computers of India’s top military organisation, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), one of the biggest security breaches in the country’s history. The Prime Minister’s Office has reportedly given in-principle approval for spending Rs. 1,000 crore over the next four years to build capabilities against cyber attacks and it awaits cabinet approval.

Indian Cyber Command

The Indian armed forces have been demanding a tri-service unified Cyber Command for some time. Defence Minister A.K. Antony announced, mid-June, that India will soon form a Cyber Command. Its mission would be to defend military computer networks and launch cyber-counter-attacks. Command-and-control systems at military headquarters, air defence networks and weapon system computers will be the primary targets. The objective would be to ensure freedom of network operations to own forces and denying the same to the adversary. The Command would shape up by putting together existing cyberspace resources, creating synergy and integrating assets of the three services. Like other tri-service commands, they will report to the Chiefs of Staff Committee.

Since the world is still at the ‘waking up’ stage to cyber threats, there are no clearly defined laws. Collateral damage may actually be the intention in this type of warfare. After considerable debate, as has evolved in the United States, the military handles its own networks and takes cyber-offensive/defensive actions. Protection of Indian civil networks could be the responsibility of NCCC. Cyber Command could be called to support NCCC in case of cyber disaster. Such coordination could be at the level of the National Security Advisor. Building up of credible cyber attack capability should also act as a deterrence. Former Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal S.K. Sareen says, “The line between war and peace has been erased. Cyberspace is now a 24x7 war.” Now is the time to act. Who will declare when the nation is under attack? Who will authorise offensive action? How will the action be graded? When will Cyber Command be in place? For answers, turn to Forum.