India to widen scope of cyber-security coordinator

India to widen scope of cyber-security coordinator


India is to widen the scope of its cyber-security coordinator in the wake of incendiary internet data that swept the country earlier this month and forced an exodus of northeastern people from Pune and Bangalore but there is no move to take up the issue with Pakistan, a senior official said Tuesday.

India has also reiterated a demand made three years ago to toughen cyber laws to prevent such hate campaigns, the official said.

"We already have a cyber-security coordinator in the National Security Council Secretariat. But since this is more of a think thank, this individual will take a more holistic view and look at other options before suggesting additional counter measures," the official said.

He, however, split hairs on Indian Home Secretary R.K. Singh suggesting a Pakistani angle to the hate campaign.

"Mr. Singh never said Pakistan was involved. What he said was that some Pakistanis were involved. Our investigations show that 28-30 percent of the uploads were done from Pakistan. Suppose we take this up with Pakistan. They could well ask: 'Oh, so where did the balance 70 percent come from?'" the official said.

"This is not a state-to-state issue. We are dealing with a domain where there are no boundaries. This is all the more reason for international rules of the road that we have been pressing for since the past three years," the official added.

To that extent, this issue will not figure when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Summit in Tehran on Thursday.

Till that time tighter laws are in place, how did the government propose to deal with future attacks?

"We'll have to work at multiple levels. We have to put in filters. Now that we know what we are dealing with we are better equipped to deal with it. But then, who owns the Internet? The whole world owns it. It's a new domain. It's a whole new ball game," the official said.