BJP MP warns of "cyber war", seeks setting up of a Ministry

NEW DELHI: Warning that the Third World War would be a 'cyber war', BJP member Tarun Vijay today demanded setting up of a separate ministry for cyber security, saying India was the "second largest victim" of these attacks.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, he said cyber attacks have become a national security issue as cyber criminals were using social networking sites to target users in India.

Maintaining that the country has become the "second largest victim" of cyber attacks in the world, he said in the last five months 50,000 cyber attacks have been reported and nearly half of India's internet population was being hit by cyber attackers.

Citing a report by cyber security firm Norton, the BJP member said on an average, an affected individual loses about Rs 16,000 as a fallout of cyber crime.

"This is a dreadful statistics for a country of a young population...I demand that there should be a separate ministy for cyber security in the country. We must take initiative. India must be the first counry to start a cyber security ministry," Vijay said.

He also stressed that for the success of 'Digital India' initiative, "we have to take care of cyber crimes". He also made a case for cyber audits across industries, similar to that of telecom to banking sectors.

The member suggested that all MLAs and MPs should be given training on various aspects of cyber security and demanded setting up of a proper cyber laboratory in the country.

"India is a software capital of the world, but still we don't have a state-of-the-art cyber lab in the country," Vijay added.