NITI Aayog to push India's cyber defence system

KOLKATA: NITI Aayog would give a policy push to build India's cyber defence system, its member V K Saraswat said today.

"NITI Aayog will give a policy push to build the country's cyber defence system for enhancing national security," Saraswat told reporters at an Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) event here.

NITI Aayog has replaced Planning Commission as a think tank.

He said that if a country's cyber defence system was weak, then the entire economy would be affected.

Saraswat, the former chief of DRDO and credited for developing several missiles, said that India needs to develop tools for this purpose.

"India needs to develop tools and software which have to be produced in-house. Now all are being imported from China and other countries," he said.

Saraswat said, "Thus we are vulnerable to cyber attacks. So our electronics policy should be geared towards that", he said.

Even if the country went for collaborations with other countries, those would have to be dependable ones, Saraswat said. "The country will have to create multiple layers in the cyber defence system which act as a deterrent to the enemies."

Bio defence was another area which India would also have to look at to defend itself from bio attacks, he said.

"India does not have an adequate database to determine whether diseases like avian flu, swine flu were instances of bio attacks", he said.

"Bio terrorism can create an all-round instability in the country. There are both state and non-state players in the neighbourhood who are potential adversaries", he said.