UK and India to collaborate on cyber security

Prime Minister David Cameron will today discuss ways in which the UK can help to improve cyber security in India with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh.

Cameron is currently leading a trade delegation on the subcontinent. Yesterday, he briefed journalists on plans to improve the security of UK data held by Indian companies.

"Other countries securing their data is effectively securing our data,” Cameron said, according to Bloomberg. “This is an area where Britain has some competitive and technology advantages.”

Cameron and Singh will agree to set up an information sharing initiative that would allow the two countries to exchange data on emerging cyber threats, the news agency reported.

India is currently in the process of its developing a new national cyber security strategy. In the coming weeks, the country's National Security Council is expected to announce a number of new bodies to oversee cyber security, including a National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre and serveral sector-specific Computer Emergency Readiness Teams (CERTs), according to the Times of India.

Last week, NASSCOM – the Indian IT industry's trade body – called on the country's government to make specific allocations to cyber security in its forthcoming budget. Statistics from Indian's National Crime Records Bureau, cited on the NASSCOM website, reveal that the number of people arrested under India's Information Technology Act more than double to 980 in 2010.

The Indian government has been especially wary of Chinese telecommunications manufacturers. In 2010, it banned Huwaei and ZTE from government contract on the grounds of "security concerns". Not so the UK government, which has welcomed £1.3 billion of inward investment from Huawei.

Pete Swabey

Pete Swabey

Pete was Editor of Information Age and head of technology research for Vitesse Media plc from 2005 to 2013, before moving on to be Senior Editor and then Editorial Director at The Economist Intelligence...

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Cyber Security
India