Enter the Cyber Dragon

The canvas on which any/all future conflicts of the 21st century will be painted will not simply be restricted to the traditional military sphere. Proficiency in employing asymmetric methods is likely to define the trajectory of conflicts in the future and foremost among them is the usage of cyberwar techniques. In today’s age where information reigns supreme, the increasing usage and reliance on cyberspace has rendered issues pertaining to national security ever more vulnerable.

The recent past has witnessed virulent cyberattacks being launched against many nations including India, Japan and the United States with a purported aim of extracting sensitive information, specifically relating to foreign and defence planning and policies. What causes greater alarm is the fact that a sizeable number of these offensives have been mounted and spearheaded from server computers based within the People’s Republic of China — as reported time and again. And the primary idea behind this pattern of cyberwarfare is to strike in unexpected ways against specified targets.

Following a cyber offensive being launched on the Lower House of the Japanese Parliament (Diet) in October 2011, allegedly spearheaded from China, Tokyo reportedly has undertaken substantive measures to counter the cyberattacks it has been subjected to in the recent past. The latest attack resulted in the loss of ID codes, passwords and sensitive documentation of 480 lawmakers of the Lower House. As a response — as reported by Yomiuri Shimbun, leading Japanese daily — the Japanese Defence Ministry’s Technical Research and Development Institute has delegated a three-year project, worth approximately 179-million yen ($2.27 million), in January 2012 to technology maker Fujitsu Ltd to design a kind of software weapon program that could trace the source of a cyberattack and consequently neutralise it.

This brings into focus the larger debate which structures around the consequential strategic changes taking place in Asia in tandem with the growing power of China. As China tries to put into effect its growing economic and military stature, Asia is likely to witness the ripple effects of the same. What adds to the quandary is the dubiety of Chinese intentions, as it refuses to clarify “the current status, or future vision, for the modernisation of its military capabilities”, says the Japanese Defence Ministry.

China’s focus on developing cyberwar capabilities is reflected through numerous writings stemming out of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). These include doctrinal publications such as Science of Strategy and Science of Campaigns that have sought to underscore the significance of asymmetric means to fight future wars by means of mitigating the strengths of the adversary. Both these documents emphasise upon targeting the command and control and logistics networks of the adversary to gain an early initiative in the course of conflict.

As far as India is concerned, its growing dependence on automated data processing and widely spread computer networks has put it in the line of grave risk, especially when New Delhi plans a $9 billion package for its Information Technology roadmap. In such context, the main objective for New Delhi should be to secure its cyberspace, lessen vulnerability to attacks, and minimise damage and recovery time from any attack.

However, India does suffer from critical technical inadequacies as it prepares to confront the cyber menace. These include the absence of a single-operating unit which controls IT. There are too many nodal information security organisations/centres that tend to squander time, whereas the requirement is that of integration and operational units being made more centralised. More significantly, India lacks comprehensive laws pertaining specifically to privacy and data protection.

India’s premier government agency responsible for the development of technology for use by the military, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has lately commenced a project on cybersecurity that aims to put in place an infallible Computer Operating System. DRDO has stressed upon the need for R&D specific to cybersecurity based on robust platforms which can be trusted and, more importantly, could monitor the flow of cyber-traffic and decipher means to encrypt and disrupt them. However, instead of the present Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-In) which is the primary referral agency of India’s cyber response options, New Delhi, should take immediate steps and put in effect a full-fledged cyber command that is designed to prevent hacking of computer networks and siphoning of strategic data stored in information systems.

Further, international cooperation and information sharing is an important mean by virtue of which nations confronting the ills of cyberattacks could mutually develop collaborative mechanisms so as to deal with them. In the given context, potential Indo-Japanese collaboration in jointly undertaking R&D and other corrective technologies to counter the mounting cyberthreat could prove to be a landmark area of cooperation between New Delhi and Tokyo. The bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest were reiterated during the recently concluded India visit of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in December 2011. In fact, joint exploration of initiatives to counter cyber offensives can become a mainstay of the landmark security agreement signed between Tokyo and New Delhi in October 2008, further cementing the Strategic and Global Partnership between India and Japan signed in December 2006.

It would only be prudent for India and Japan to stress upon the importance of a coherent approach so as to notch up their capacity of putting forth a formidable layer of security, insulating them from a cyber offensive. This, in turn, would enable comprehension and improve capabilities to secure their respective cyberspaces and counter the overarching reality of China developing its offensive cyber war capabilities.

The writer is presently a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Slavic Research Center, Hokkaido  University, Japan and also a Senior Fellow at CLAWS

Courtesy: The Pioneer, 4 February 2012