India, the IT nation, did not make a news splash at CyberTech 2014. That is worth a passing thought. Because cyber is the fifth and new domain of warfare, after land, sea, air and space.
India’s niche military and intelligence technologies in the field of cyber, space, robotics and jamming can have potential deterrence value and a ‘war minus’ option against Pakistan.
The two recent malware attacks on energy companies in West Asia are particularly worrisome since they represent a rapid escalation in capabilities and intent on the part of the perpetrators.
After ensuring that its people are only able to access ‘filtered’ news, the Chinese leadership has also decided to refurbish its image abroad through a major public relations effort.
The Chinese cyber warfare department’s multiple agencies and individuals are seriously working towards the overall objective of instantly disrupting or at least weakening the adversary’s computer networks so as to paralyse his decision making capability at the very commencement of hostilities. It is very difficult to protect networks from such attacks. The weakest link in cyber security measures are the persons operating the system who often, knowingly or unknowingly, default on cyber security measures.
Even though the report is fairly cautious in what it says and does not highlight anything new, the reactions on the Chinese side have not been that positive.
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) considers active offence to be the most important requirement for information warfare to destroy or disrupt an adversary's capability to receive and process data. Launched mainly by remote combat and covert methods, the PLA could employ information warfare pre-emptively to gain the initiative in a crisis.
The last couple of decades have seen a colossal change in terms of the influence that computers can have on the battlefield, with defence pundits claiming it to be the dawn of a new era in warfare. Under these circumstances, there has been a gradual paradigm shift in military thinking and strategies from the strategic aspect to the tactical aspect of cyber warfare, laying more emphasis on it being a potent force multiplier. The author believes this is wrong and rather than cyber warfare being an enhancement of traditional operations, the latter will be force multipliers of cyber warfare.
The Internet’s blurred boundaries and its existing vulnerabilities have led to unhealthy trends, which, if not addressed adequately, could pose severe problems.
China will develop much greater depth and sophistication in its understanding and handling of information warfare techniques and operations. With Indian security becoming increasingly dependent on date processing and network centricity, it will become extremely vulnerable to such information warfare campaigns. India needs to adopt a multidisciplinary approach towards dealing with the emerging cyber warfare threats and develop appropriate response.
