Finnish company set to help state build cyber army

Technology will eventually also be used to secure critical infrastructure and industrial control systems

3 min readAhmedabadJan 31, 2015 02:22 AM IST First published on: Jan 31, 2015 at 02:22 AM IST

The Gujarat Forensic Science University (GFSU) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a Finnish company to be able to train and raise a “cyber army” to combat “cyber terrorism”. The technology will eventually also be used to secure critical infrastructure, industrial control systems and other smart-city initiatives in the country. The GFSU signed the MoU with Codenomicon Software, a Finnish cyber security company’s Indian counterpart in New Delhi, during the Vibrant Gujarat Investors Summit earlier this month.

The GFSU developed a cyber intelligence lab in August last year that has the software called “defensics” provided by Codenomicon. The software is the only one available in the country, which makes this lab the biggest cyber monitoring cell among the other labs in the country.

Deputy Director of the FSL, Mohinder Dahiya, told The Indian Express, “The MoU was signed for the development of the intel lab that will build cyber intelligence in the country by training officers and students. Our country needs to move in preparing defence against cyber warfare. In the second stage, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) would be developed at the lab, taking the cyber security level at the highest in the country.”

The cyber army would be then raised to combat cyber terrorism. The intelligence lab is not just a learners’ ground for the students of the GFSU, it will also host training sessions for the officers from central agencies like CBI, NIA, armed units and police officers from various states regularly. The intelligence lab will also aid cyber crime detections and help police in cyber-monitoring. The GFSU and Codenomicon will then develop SCADA in the lab for analysis.

The intelligence lab, working on the Defensics software, works for two phenomenons of cyber security – checking unknown vulnerabilities and cyber monitoring. The forensic officials said Defensics works on fuzzing technology, a technique that exposes defects and vulnerabilities in the softwares by sending inputs in the system.

A professor at the GFSU explained, “When software and websites are made, even the developers cannot identify the hidden threats where the hackers take the advantage of attacks. The unknown bugs in the system are called vulnerabilities. Defensics helps us identify such vulnerabilities.”

He added, “There are several company websites, software, government pages that are under threat of cyber attack. The bugs are also created to leak or keep tabs or destroy a system containing details of national security. The terrorists are now increasingly using these techniques to attack India.” Similarly, after identifying the vulnerabilities, the software provides solutions to form a strong system. The cyber monitoring aspect of the programme helps keep a watch after the strong software of websites have been developed.