New Delhi has warned the international community about the threat by actors, both state and non-state, whose actions present a clear threat to national, regional, and global security.
Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told the Paris Peace Forum on Tuesday that coordinated actions by nations, bilaterally and multilaterally, were required to prevent terrorists and extremists from building their presence in the digital domain.
“For the specific security threats, including cyber attacks on critical infrastructures, countries should consider entering into arrangements for speedy action and mitigation", Jaishankar said.
The minister called for a global understanding if not a global regulation to keep cyberspace open, safe, and secure and for that “multilateralism is more essential than ever before".
Earlier this month, a South Korean cybersecurity firm claimed that the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) in the southern Indian sate of Tamil Nadu had been targeted by North Korean “DTrack” malware in a bid to obtain internal information about “thorium-based nuclear power”. A few days later, another report emerged suggesting that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) might have been attacked in September as well.
The Seoul-based IssueMake Labs also asserted that senior Indian nuclear scientists including former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India, Dr Anil Kakodkar, and former Atomic Energy Regulatory Board Chairman, Dr S. A. Bhardwaj, were the target of North Korean hackers.