Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday described outer space and cyber space as two emerging security challenges for India.
To combat such threats, the government will soon create a national cyber security office for a coordinated response. The decision is aimed at implementing a national architecture on cyber security.
“We are implementing a national architecture for cyber security and have taken steps to create an office of a national cyber security coordinator,” the prime minister said after laying the foundation stone for Indian National Defence University at Binola, near Gurgaon.
“We inhabit a networked and digital world. Explosive development of technology is transforming defence capabilities. As our dependence on the cyber and outer space domains grows, new sets of challenges will emerge, which can also assume military dimensions,” he said days after the visit of Chinese premier Li Keqiang.
China has made rapid progress in non-conventional warfare. The People’s Liberation Army maintains a brigade of hackers, which targets websites around the world, an Army official said.
In 2007, China also demonstrated its capability to destroy satellites in the orbit, triggering shock wave around the world.
The prime minister gave clear indications of the government’s seriousness on how to deal with these threats.
At the same time he dropped subtle hints on India’s readiness to protect its assets in the South China Sea in case of Chinese objection or intervention while conducting oil exploration work for Vietnam.
“We also have to be prepared to preserve India’s expanding international assets. The Navy is fully equipped to operate at great distances from our shores and protect our maritime interests,” he said, carefully avoiding any direct reference to China, which had objected to India’s presence in the South China Sea in the past.