India-US-Cyber crime
India and the US have decided to enhance cooperation among their law enforcement agencies in order to effectively deal with cyber crime.

At the third plenary session 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 Center (ISAC) and an India Anti-Bot Alliance to raise awareness of the 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 the 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 Shri Arvind Gupta, joint secretary at the 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, Deputy National Security Advisor Shri Vijay K Nambiar referred to the ongoing transformation of the Indo-US relationship into a strategic partnership.

Recognizing the role played by the Indo-US Cyber Security Forum in the growth of the Indo-US relationship, Shri Nambiar emphasized the need for serious attention to sound information security practices in view of the rapid growth of the IT Enabled Services (ITES) trade between the two countries.

He said that the Indo-US Cyber Security Forum was addressing those issues through its Joint Working Groups and would continue to do so.

Shri Arvind Gupta, the Indian co-chair of 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, highlighting the emerging strategic relationship between the two countries said it was predicated on common visions, concerns and inter-dependencies.

He noted that over the last three years the Indo-US Cyber Security Forum had 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 said he expected a more ambitious program in the coming year.

He welcomed the suggestion for greater information-sharing in the transportation and financial sectors and hoped that the forum's agenda would help cope with the new challenges to cyber security by, among others, mitigating risks in the emerging sub-outsourcing environment.