Rising cyber security threats have become a global issue and the only way to deal with them is through a joint effort of nations, union communication minister Kapil Sibal has said.

“The fact of the matter is, that just as I talk, global espionage is taking place. Not just global espionage, but few kinds of weapons are being developed, which seem to target governments and businesses and we need to be ready for that. Because we don’t know where the attack is going to come from, we need to develop a system with which we can constantly protect ourselves. This battle can only be won by a collective effort,” said union minister for communications and IT, Kapil Sibal at the NASSCOM – DSCI 8th Annual Information Security Summit (AISS13) organised in the capital on December 11-12.

“The one thing that we must do is to start thinking about a global arrangement just like we have the WTO and ensure that our national laws are consistent with it. That means we must evolve global standards,” he said.

Nations have to learn that a joint effort will lead to success. Trying to solve the problem alone will lead to nothing. “Countries will not be able to deal with these issues in isolation,” said the minister, adding that the need of the hour was a collective agreement.  The minister added that a global consensus was needed to fight the menace.

At the national level, the internet is the network that connects the elements that form the backbone of the country. An attack on that could cripple the country. “Institutions will be connected to the net. National grids will be connected to the grid. Any disruptions to this can cause absolute havoc,” said Sibal.

The government has already taken steps to fight the menace, including getting the National Security Agency (NSA) on board. “These are multilayer approaches and only at the policy level. There is a need to create a security layer at the human level. In order to fully fight the cyber security threat, the expertise needs an overhaul,” he said.  

An additional force of 5,00,000 personnel is to be added to the cyber security cell in India by 2015. The Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) will also establish four security labs to combat the problem further, he said.

The minister, being a former law minister stressed upon the legal framework that needed to be put in place. “We need instant justice. You cannot prevent an attack. But you need remedial action immediately. The legal processes are so slow that it takes months for remedial action to take place. There is a need for a system of cyber justice,” Sibal said.

Cyber threats are different from other threats because the victim remains unaware of it for a long time, causing the crime to go undetected. Unpredictable and quick, cyber threats are very different from those on any physical space. “Internet, according to me is strategic infrastructure. It should be a free flowing commodity. But the question is that the principles that apply to this space (digital) are far removed from the ones that apply to the physical space,” he added.