Cyber Security

The dexterity with which Japan handles this case and the follow-up measures it adopts will strongly influence other countries to either liberalise the use of cryptocurrencies or strictly forbid them in the interest of consumers, law enforcement and national security.

• Munish Sharma
• February 13, 2018
• IDSA Comments

The introduction to Alexander Klimburg’s book, The Darkening Web: The War for Cyberspace, begins by referencing the Indian parable of the Blind Men of Hindoostan and the elephant to bring out the difficulty of ‘grasping the entirety of cyberspace’. The focus of his book is on international security, and more specifically, the security interests of states in cyberspace. That said, a large part of the book focuses on three countries—the United States, Russia and China—and their approaches and actions in cyberspace. Europe is mentioned largely in the context of privacy and data laws.

• Cherian Samuel
• October 2017
• Journal of Defence Studies

A dominant paradigm for militarised cyber operations, owing to a growing interest in such actions, is seeking an ability to strike back and launch cyber counter attacks immediately after being attacked. This commentary challenges view based on the argument that it leads to a contra-productive tit-for-tat game with no decisive or deterrent outcome. It argues that cyber attacks are information, which an initially passive targeted society can gather to refine and consolidate its cybersecurity and over time receive an advantage over the initial attacker.

• Jan Kallberg , Rosemary A. Burk
• September 2017
• Strategic Analysis

This special feature explores the mechanics and attributes which have led to the steep rise in the popularity of cryptocurrencies, delves into the risks they pose to the user and the state, and evaluates the opportunities, risks and policy options for India.

• Munish Sharma
• August 01, 2017
• Special Feature

Advances in technology has brought into focus the need to have double assurance on data security, especially with the world moving from classical to Quantum Computing, which latter has the power to unlock the toughest of cyber-locks.

• Kritika Roy
• July 19, 2017
• Backgrounder

Most attacks prior to Petya were carried out by criminals for financial gain, but some characteristics of the Petya malware have led to doubts as to whether the culprits are state actors.

• Mohan Babu
• July 13, 2017
• Backgrounder

Though there might be several prevalent concerns over Aadhaar’s data security, these do not outweigh the benefits it has to offer.

• Kritika Roy
• June 22, 2017
• IDSA Comments

The DNC and En Marche hacking instances offer a peek into the future: data leaks and cyber means of electoral intervention are likely to become an unfortunate and inevitable part of the electoral process.

• Munish Sharma
• May 22, 2017
• Issue Brief

The 2017 Conference also comes at a time when the existing international discourses on securing cyberspace, whether it be the UNGGE process or the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), seem to be unable to cope with the accelerated developments in cyberspace.

• Cherian Samuel
• January 16, 2017
• Issue Brief

With the digitisation of services, such as in the case of governance and banking, or the electronic means of conducting commerce or trade, a large amount of data is generated, stored, processed; this also traverses, over digital devices and networks. The incidents of data theft compromise the integrity of this data. Data is at continuous risk from a myriad of threat actors varying from hacktivists to nation states.

• Munish Sharma
• January 2017
• Journal of Defence Studies