Sunday 18 January 2015

Cyber warfare: India's real battle in virtual world

When two special task forces of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, comprising several hundred personnel, chased the elusive bandit Veerappan across Sathyamangalam forests for more than a decade, they had very little by way of sophisticated gadgets to guide them -perhaps just night vision goggles that were higher in scale than those used by any other force then in the country. The Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment was not so embedded as it is today. Choppers, instead of micro drones, were used to scour the deep jungles, but the loud noise of the whirring blades gave the game away. It took decades for police of two states and the task forces to finally hunt down Veerappan in October 2004.

"Technology is advancing by leaps and bounds every few years. Today, terrorist groups are carrying out online indoctrination without the identity of the main person behind it being revealed," said K Vijay Kumar, senior security adviser in the ministry of home affairs, who led the Veerappan operation.

"Micro drones would have helped us gain more access to Veerappan's dens and nab him more quickly. The concept of terrorist attacks has taken a new meaning today and it is a constant race between governments and terror groups to keep ahead in cyber space," said Vijay Kumar.

Amidst a surge in cyber terrorism and use of technology in attacks, India is under pressure to counter transnational and domestic terrorist groups by investing more in key institutions and manpower to monitor cyberspace.

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