Every digital system must be secured to safeguard India: Experts
By ANIFriday, June 5, 2009
NEW DELHI - With information technology (IT) experiencing constant change, security systems connected with it should be revamped regularly, to ensure India is secured from external threats, experts have said.
Addressing a seminar on Information Security Management: Importance, Career Prospects and Training, Air Chief Marshal (retired) S.P.Tyagi said if India is to be made secure, all information and data in the country must be secured.
Air Chief Marshal Tyagi said information, be it strategic or any other, is very critical for any country to succeed and gain an advantage over other nations.
” Information won wars and lack of it made countries lose wars,” the veteran of 1965 and 1971 wars and former air force chief, said.
Referring to the impending terror threat from different quarters, Air Chief Marshal Tyagi stressed on the need for a foolproof system to safeguard the country’s data systems from all kinds of hardkill and softkills.
He also expressed concern over China hacking Indian web sites.
Highlighting the fact that information technology has made the world borderless, he underlined that the role of the Armed forces has also changed from securing the country from extremist threats to safeguarding it from technological attacks.
“The Army must start thinking beyond the borders of India,” Air Chief Marshal Tyagi said.
Addressing the seminar, Commander S.R.Singh of the Indian Navy said that in the future, countries would be engaged in cyber wars rather than conventional confrontation.
Commander Singh also highlighted the need to check Chinese cyber infiltration.
“China has been identified as the biggest IT threat to India, US, Australia and several African countries,” he said.
He said we must first prevent our own computer networks, and then think of hitting out at the enemies.
Commander Singh stressed on the need for proper training in the field of information security.
“People are both assets and liabilities.They are probably the weakest link in safe guarding the nation’s security. So, they must be trained properly in this regard,” he added.
Lieutenant Colonel GVS Rao added that IT security should be a combination of all three aspects, namely- people, process, and technology.
“There has to be an IT security governance model for each corporate organization today,” Lieutenant Colonel Rao said. By Shashank Shantanu (ANI)
