Joint Workshop on ‘India-China-US Trilateral Cyberspace Cooperation’: Welcome Remarks by Dr. Arvind Gupta, Director Vivekananda International Foundation, New Delhi, 16-17 Nov 2017

Dear Bruce McConnell, Global Vice President, East-West Institute, Mr. Yu Shuang, Director, Academic Department of China Institute for International Strategic Studies (CIISS), Dear friends, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to this joint India-China-US trilateral workshop on Cyberspace Cooperation. We are grateful to the East-West Institute and CIISS and other organizations who are participating in this workshop.

Cyber space is emerging as a great enabler of progress as also a threat to global security and stability. As a result, it is now a top priority item in international security agenda. Protection of critical infrastructure, cyber crime and cyber warfare threaten to undermine global security. Cyber warfare is increasingly becoming a reality. There is increasing evidence that states are using cyber space as a medium for warfare. In view of the chaotic nature of cyber space, efforts have been made to work out norms, rules of behavior and confidence building measures in cyber space. Unfortunately, there has been little tangible progress in this direction.

The UN Group of Governmental Experts (UNGGE) has held five meetings so far in the last few years. They have agreed on a set of norms for cyber space. It has also been agreed that international law and legal norm should apply to cyber space. However the last meeting of UNGGE could not come up with a consensus report. The participating countries could not agree on the role of the UN. They could also not agree on how the enforce such norms.

There has been heated debate in the international community on internet. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is responsible for the maintenance and running of the technical infrastructure, like the root server, domain names etc. through a model known as “multi stakeholder” model. While many states agree on a multi stakeholder model, there are serious differences on what role of the states should have in such a model. States, with some justifications, argue that security is their concern and this should be factored into the multi stakeholder model. India supports the multi stakeholder model but insists that the government should have a role in ensuring that national security and sovereignty are not jeopardized.
The root servers managed by ICANN, are located mostly in the western countries. Root servers form the foundation of the internet architecture. ICANN has resisted the setting of new root servers. This is resented by many countries. It is understood that China has made its own root server and taken steps to shield its network from the rest of the internet. Apprehensions have been expressed that this will lead to the fracturing and fragmentation of the internet. The implications of this development needs to be understood.

Majority of incidents in the cyber space is relate to cyber crime, which impact the ordinary persons. With the onset of the Internet of Things, the challenge of cyber crime will increase manifolds. The cooperation amongst low enforcement agency to deal with cyber crime is presently at a low level.
Global service providers have huge role in international cooperation to deal with cyber security. Unfortunately, the relationship between the global service provider and low enforcement agencies is largely adversarial. Information sharing is difficult and viewed with mutual suspicion. Privacy has emerged as a major issue in the debate surrounding the internet. Public is uneasy about the mass surveillance capabilities of the states as well as the hold of private internet companies on individual’s daily lives. E-commerce is seeing rapid growth all over the world, including in India. This raises the questions of the cross border trade and its regulation. New rules are under consideration of the WTO. It is essential the internet of developing country are kept in mind.

Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is essential for internet governance. A lot of infrastructure is owned by the private sector while public sector is a major consumer of the services. PPP model raises the questions of regulation, intellectual property right and cyber security. The cooperation between the two is essential.

India with 400 million plus users, in the second largest user of internet. Still, the penetration of broadband connectivity in India is low. In the last few years, the government has taken steps to use cyber network for efficient and fast delivery of the service. The government’s Digital India programme is expanding rapidly. ‘Aadhar’ is the largest database of citizen’s identity. It is essential that developing countries bridge the Digital divide and build capacity. This should be priority for international cooperation.

India has over the years come out with a comprehensive cyber security policy and assurance framework for cyber security. A number of new institutions have been created. A post of national Cyber Security Coordinator in the National Security Council Secretariat in the Prime Minister Office has been created. The Information Technology Act provides the legal basis for dealing with cybercrime, cyber terrorism and other such issues.

International cooperation is a major plank of the government’s cyber security approach. India has signed Cyber Security Cooperation agreements with USA, and Russia. The MEA conducts cyber security dialogue with a number of countries. There is also technical cooperation between CERT-India and counterpart organization. India is expending cyber security cooperation with many countries and extending help to other countries in cyber security capacity building.

In this workshop, we hope to discuss some the difficult issues in cyber security arena. It is hoped that some constructive suggestions which emerge from this cooperation.

Thank You.