Bound by the pressure of intelligence gathering attacks launched by other nations, India has apparently hinted plans to designate agencies for carrying out cyber-attacks sometime soon. 

Under the official nod of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the National Security Council is set to roll their all-inclusive plan against many countries whose attacks are being viewed as an act of war. The plans will also include appointment of the Defense Intelligence Agency and National Technical Research Organisation as special departments for carrying out offensive cyber operations, if need be. Other agencies however, will be permitted to fetch only intelligence information from abroad.

The detailed policy for national cyber infrastructure protection is presently before the NSC awaiting its approval. The policy would identify all government agencies that would have a role in the protection of Indian cyber infrastructure and define their roles. 

As per the sources associated with this policy, the Indian capital, New Delhi has surfaced repeated cyber intrusions with prime target on gathering confidential data from the country’s critical networks. Hence, this operation is not just a defense mechanism but also allow agencies for offensive operations in unavoidable conditions.

The recent proofs handed over to Security Council also include advance level disturbance in Indian cyber infrastructure such as bringing down a power grid, stalling air traffic control systems, or manipulating controls of a dam which can almost jolt the whole nation’s controlling bodies. 

Stuxnet, the cyber threat created by US''s National Security Agency and Israeli military which was meant to target Iran''s nuclear enrichment center at Natanz, has instead infected Indian systems, cited sources. Senior officials claim any such intentional or unintentional outbreaks cannot be ruled out. An attack that can debilitate Indian IT infrastructure is what he has strongly warned to be prepared for. 

While CERT-IN (Computer Emergency Response Team India) would be responsible for protection of most of the cyber space, National Technical Research Org. will be in charge of protecting critical infrastructure such as important government networks. NTRO, as per the plan, will create the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIPC), which would be a command-and-control centre for monitoring critical infrastructure. It would be a round-the-clock centre, providing real time response to cyber security breaches. 

The proposal before NSC also envisages creation of sectoral CERTs in order to respond quickly to protect power distribution networks, Air Traffic Controls, traffic networks and other areas that are heavily dependent on networked systems, and thus are susceptible to attacks.  

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