India and Israel are upping their cyber security. Prompted by Covid, they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

Over the past year they have cooperated and learnt lessons from each other.

The emerging India – Israel – New Zealand Friendship grouping here in New Zealand asks if there are things New Zealand can learn from their approach.

Increase in Cyber Attacks

Remote working, brought about by Covid, has produced a whole set of cyber dangers. There are vulnerabilities and gaps when home users log onto their corporate networks. For criminals who know what they are doing there are rich pickings. They infiltrate these networks, access sensitive information and use ransomware to extort it or on-sell.

And as well as criminal, there are state-sponsored attacks. Some governments are aggressively using these methods to undermine and destabilise other countries, and to harvest state secrets. Recently, the increase in volume and complexity of these attacks has been exponential.

This all means that cyber attacks are being taken very seriously by India and Israel. 

India and Israel learn from each other

India and Israel are learning from each other.

In 2010 the Israeli Government commissioned a report to see how it could be amongst the top five cyber security nations. The next year, that report became a Government Resolution. And for the past decade they have been implementing it.

The aim has been to create human capital – to equip and train a vast pool of people with expertise in digital security – a highly specialised and technical skill set.

This has been done by creating an ‘ecosystem’; a cyber security environment where people learn from one another. The Israeli Government has provided leadership through its National Cyber Directorate. This agency advises the government on policy, and gives guidance and support to others in the ecosystem.

Cyber research units were established in seven Israeli universities. And these units have partnered with Israeli private companies in research and development.  Cyber Security was introduced as an elective at high schools.

All this has thrust Israel forward in the provision of effective cyber defense.

And international investors have followed these developments. In 2018 Israel received 18% of the world-wide investment in cyber security. In 2019 26% – 2020 31% – and in the first six months of this year it has received 45% of all the world’s private investment in cyber security.

Likewise, the big R & D companies, such as Microsoft, IBM and Cisco, have also recognised where the expertise lies and have set up research centres in Israel.

In similar fashion, India has made big progress – through its own initiatives, and in partnership with Israel. At the signing of the MOU last year they said that the Understanding consists of a “multilayer cooperation of sharing methodologies, best practices, and capacity building know-how”.

In India the Data Security Council is a not-for-profit, industry body. Its purpose is to ensure data protection. It “engages with governments and their agencies, regulators, industry sectors, industry associates and think tanks” to create a culture of cyber space safety. It promotes standards, best practices, policies, capacity building, industry development and transborder data flow.

Before 2013 India had no laws against cyber attacks. Following the Edward Snowden leaks of NSA surveillance, the National Cyber Security Policy was put in place.

In recent years the Indian Government has urged the business sector to digitize in order to facilitate the nation’s economic expansion. This development, together with Covid, has led to a fire-storm of cyber attacks. The Government initiatives are in place to thwart this.

‘Cert-In’ (the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team) advises that it constantly issues “alerts and advisories regarding cyber threats and vulnerabilities and countermeasures to protect computers and networks”.

Also, guidelines have been issued for chief information security officers – setting out their key roles and responsibilities about compliance, infrastructure and applications. The Indian Government has also “mandated regular cyber security audits and mock drills”.

India – Israel – New Zealand

The emerging India – Israel – NZ Friendship grouping here in NZ recognises the leadership provided by India and Israel in cyber security. And that they have partnered to enhance their expertise.

Ian Dunwoodie, of the grouping, wants key New Zealanders – government policy and decision makers, industry leaders and education institutions – to consider this ecosystem model. He said, “At a time when New Zealand has to look overseas to recruit cyber security specialists, it would seem strategic to explore putting in place this kind of ecosystem model”.

“For Cyber Security to really develop here in New Zealand there needs to be a dynamic environment – with government agencies, research units and the private sector going in the same direction. This model might be the way to do it.”

“This creative culture might also spin off into other High Tech research and development”.