Antony asks Indian Armed Forces to prepare action plan to counter cyber attacks

NEW DELHI - Defence Minister A K Antony on Friday called upon the top brass of the Armed Forces to coordinate closely with various national cyber agencies and prepare crisis management action plan to counter cyber attacks and cyber terrorism.

Addressing the Unified Commanders’ Conference, here, Antony said cyber-space has emerged as an important medium for information sharing but at the same time the existing technology is susceptible to misuse by anti-social and anti-national elements.

“Of late, extraordinary and unprecedented cyber crimes have taken place across the globe, exposing gaping holes in cyber security systems. Although Defence Services at all levels have taken steps to counter cyber threat through stringent implementation of cyber security policy, there is still a requirement to ensure that all loop holes in this regard are suitably plugged.

Antony expressed happiness over the progress made to improve jointness among Armed Forces in various spheres. He said increasing involvement of Integrated Defence Service Headquarters in Defence issues; the functioning of Andaman and Nicobar Command and progress of Strategic Force Command are a few examples that bear testimony to the same.

The Defence Minister said the future of optimal military power lies in joint operations that need to start from the planning stage, itself. Towards this end, the first ever Long Term Integrated Perspective Plan 2012 - 2027 is nearing completion under the aegis of Integrated Defence Services Headquarters.

“Once finalized, it would be yet another milestone in our progress towards jointness”, he said.

Referring to the use of large-scale energy resources in the Armed Forces, Antony called upon the top brass to bring about strict energy conservation discipline. He also asked them to look for alternative sources of energy.

Antony assured the Chiefs that there would never be a paucity of funds for the modernisation of the Armed Forces. However, he asked them to control the Revenue Expenditure in the Armed Forces by adopting various mechanisms such as increased use of technology, integration of the three Services, adopting joint training / procedures and uniform inventories.

Antony said there also exists considerable scope to improve the quality and efficacy of Defence Expenditure through increased Private Sector engagement, import substitution and indigenisation, improvement in procedures and practices and better project management within the parameters of the Government’s Policies.

The Defence Minister complimented the Armed Forces for their superlative efforts to provide assistance to civil authorities in difficult times of natural calamities.

He said the welfare of the Service Soldiers, the Ex-Servicemen and their families continues to be a concern, very dear to the Government and the Government will take all possible steps to ensure that the soldiers and their families are well looked after.

The opening of the two-day Conference was attended among others by Minister of State for Defence MM Pallam Raju, the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal PV Naik, the Chief of Navy Staff Admiral Nirmal Verma, the Chief of Army Staff General VK Singh, Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar, Chief of Integrated Staff Committee Air Marshal SC Mukul, Commanders and Officers from the Service Headquarters and Ministry of Defence. (ANI)