Indian Army is setting up a cyber security laboratory at Military College of Telecommunication Engineering (MCTE) at Mhow (near Indore) in Madhya Pradesh to provide specialized training to its officers in security protocols for its signal and data transmission networks.
The objective of establishing cyber security laboratory is to make the entire defence force network-enabled by 2012 and ultimately become a network-centric force by 2017, say sources.
The college comes under the command of the Corps of Signals, which deals with information warfare and establishing communication networks.
The Corps of Signals have already established the Army's own intranet network up to the division level, but that is felt inadequate in fool-proofing the Army from information warfare that may become a real threat in the days to come, the sources say.
The new laboratory will prepare officers from all wings of the Army against threats of hacking and interception of their communication networks which depend on landlines and radio signals.
Though the Army's intranet is not allowed to be linked with any computer used for accessing Internet to prevent hacking, sources say all Army officers are still not fully trained to understand and implement this basic precautionary principle.
Intelligence agencies and military forces of other countries often try to break into the communication networks of the defence forces to either gather information or subvert the system. The laboratory will train the officers in handling such threats effectively.