Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The National Cyber Security Policy is a much awaited blueprint. The devil is in the trade-off
Against the backdrop of continuing revelations on the US National Security Agencys mammoth electronic surveillance and data-mining programme,the Centre has released the National Cyber Security Policy,2013 NCSP. The policy is an attempt to create a cyber security framework that will shore up Indias offensive and defensive capabilities in cyberspace. With the increasing international focus on cyberspace as a vulnerable strategic space that needs to be secured against attacks from a variety of external state and non-state actors,as well as on the opportunity it accords to nations to conduct similar operations of their own,there is little doubt that India needs to address cyber security on a national level. The NCSP offers a starting point,especially as it conceives of securing cyberspace as a more broad-based task than the admittedly important job of protecting critical infrastructure,like power grids and nuclear plants.
Creating a national cyber security policy is no easy task. It involves reconciling contradictory goals,such as data privacy and collection of threat information. The NCSP precludes a discussion on these rather important questions by not acknowledging that such trade-offs exist.
