Antony asks forces to gear up to fight cyber wars

New Delhi, Feb 17 (ANI): Defence Minister A K Antony on Thursday called upon the armed forces to be vigilant against emerging cyber threats.

Addressing the centenary celebrations of the Corps of Signals here, he called upon the forces to keep abreast of latest technologies.

Terming the Corps of Signals as the "21st century arm of our forces", Antony said it has a major role in promoting inter-Service synergy and joint operations.

"The Corps is at the forefront of transforming the Indian Army to a network-centric force. It must continuously enhance its ability to absorb latest technologies in collaboration with the industry and research and development establishment. The Corps has done commendable work, be it in fielding futuristic strategic defence communication networks, or development of state-of-the-art tactical communication systems," said Antony.

"The contribution of the Corps in enhancing cyber security is worth a mention. However, the Corps needs to be ever vigilant, as cyber threats continue to multiply and intensify by the day," he added.

Minister of State for Defence MM Pallam Raju, who was also present on the occasion, said that besides being vital to the armed forces, telecommunication and cyber infrastructure is a national and strategic asset as various other key sectors such as the railways, airlines, banks and industry depend on it.

Pallam Raju said that information and communication technologies will be a key factor in reshaping the methodology of war fighting in the future.

"Any serious disruption can jeopardise our functioning including our responses to the war being raised by our adversaries. The ramification of cyber attacks launched by an unknown adversary or individual has necessitated a relook at the planning and security of Command and Control infrastructure at the highest levels of national governance," he said.

Underlining that the modern warfare has undergone a paradigm shift, Army Chief eneral VK Singh said that the corps of signals has emerged as the proverbial "nervous system" of the Armed Forces in contemporary times.

"In all future wars, information superiority will be one of the key battle winning factors and future battlefield milieu would require communication system that are secure, responsive and reliable," said General Singh. (ANI)