India has been facing a volley of cyber attacks, and it is time for the army to step in. The word comes from Defence Minister AK Antony who has asked 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.

Speaking at a conference of Unified Commanders in New Delhi on Friday, Antony said: “Cyberspace 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,” he added.

Probably referring to the findings of SecDev Group report on the Chinese cyber espionage targeting Indian government institutions, the minister said, “A few recent cases are reminders of our own vulnerabilities.”

The minister highlighted that the armed forces should have close interaction with national agencies like Computer and Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), National Technical Research Organization (NTRO), ministry of home affairs and ministry of communication & IT to prepare crisis management action plan for countering cyber attacks and cyber terrorism is essential.