Defence Minister A K Antony today asked the armed forces to be vigilant against the emerging cyber warfare threat and gear up their infrastructure to tackle the security challenge.

Antony was addressing defence officials during the centenary celebrations of the Corps of Signal. He also highlighted the Corps' effort in tackling cyber threats.

"The contribution of the Corps in enhancing cyber security is worth a mention. However, the Corps needs to be ever vigilant as cyber threats continue to multiply and intensify by the day," he said.

The minister also praised the Signal Regiments for adopting latest technologies which has helped the Army in becoming a network-centric force.

"The Corps has done commendable work, be it in fielding futuristic strategic defence communication networks, or development of state-of-the-art tactical communication systems," he said.

Besides Antony, Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju, Minister of State for Communication and Information Technology Gurudas Kamat, Army Chief General V K Singh and Signal Officer-in-Chief Lieutenant General P Mohapatra also attended the function.

Referring to telecommunications and cyber infrastructure as national assets, Pallam Raju underlined their importance in national security as well.

"Information and communication technology will be a key factor in reshaping the methodology of war fighting in the future," he said.

He also mentioned the necessity of having a command and control structure at the highest levels of government to deal with cyber attacks launched by unknown people.

"Any serious disruption can jeopardies our functioning including our responses to the war being raised by our adversaries," said Pallam Raju.

Terming the Corps of Signal as the "nervous system" for the future army, Army Chief General Singh said, "The modern warfare has undergone a paradigm shift.

"In all future wars, information superiority will be one of the key battle winning factors and future battlefield milieu would require communication system that are secure, responsive and reliable," Singh said.