NEW DELHI: At the third Plenary of the Indo-US Cyber security Forum which concluded here today, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in consultation with their US counterpart decided to set up an India Information Sharing and Analysis Centre (ISAC) and an India Anti-Bot Alliance to raise awareness about emerging threats in cyberspace.

CERT-In and the US National Cyber security division agreed to share expertise in artifact analysis, network traffic analysis and exchange of information. The R&D working group will concentrate on hard problems of cyber security, cyber forensics and anti-spam research.

It was also decided to organize a series of Indo-US seminars, workshops, and expert level exchanges in the coming months. The US delegation was led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Michael Coulter while Arvind Gupta, joint secretary, National Security Council Secretariat led the Indian delegation.

A wide cross section of officials and industry representatives from both sides attended the meeting.

Inaugurating the plenary, the deputy national security advisor, Vijay K. Nambiar referred to the ongoing transformation of Indo-US relationship into a strategic partnership.

Recognizing the role played by the Indo-US Cyber security Forum in the growth of Indo-US relationship, Nambiar emphasized the need for serious attention to sound information security practices in view of rapid growth of IT Enabled Services (ITES) trade between the two countries. He said that the Indo-US Cyber security Forum was addressing these issues through its Joint Working Groups and would continue to do so.

Arvind Gupta, the Indian Co-Chair IUSCSF, in his opening remarks, pointed out that the third plenary of the Indo-US Cyber security Forum presented an opportunity to extend and institutionalize mutual cooperation in cyber security and make it self-sustaining. He emphasized that capacity building in cyber security remains India's priority and hoped that the Forum would make a contribution in this regard.

Coutler, the US Co-Chair, highlighted that the emerging strategic relationship between the two countries was predicated on common visions, concerns and inter-dependencies. He noted that over the last three years the Indo-US Cyber security Forum has progressed from philosophy to a common action-oriented agenda on how to secure networked information systems.

Highlighting the activities of the Forum and its Working Groups, Coutler expected a more ambitious programme in the coming year. He welcomed the suggestion for greater information-sharing in the Transportation and Financial Sectors. He hoped that the Forum's agenda would help cope with new challenges on the cyber security horizon such as mitigating risk in the emerging sub-outsourcing environment.

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