India and US sign pact to improve collaboration on cyber security issues

In light of recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, an agreement has been signed between India and United States, pointing towards better collaboration from both parties in cyber security issues.

This pact, which was signed by R. Chandrashekhar, Secretary, Department of IT, Ministry of Communication & Information Technology and Jane Holl Lute, Deputy secretary, US Department of Homeland Security, aims to usher in closer co-operation and timely information exchange regarding cyber security between the countries.

Talking about this agreement, the US Embassy said in a statement:

The agreement helps fulfill the joint commitment of both nations to advancing global security and countering terrorism, one of the pillars of the US-India Strategic Dialogue launched on July 20, 2009.

The agreement states that, all critical cyber security information and expertise will be exchanged between the two governments through the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), Department of Information Technology, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, and DHS’ United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT).

Additionally, this agreement will also allow both US and Indian governments and their respective cyber security communities to co-ordinate on a range of technical and operational cyber issues.

U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton who is currently on a two day visit to India, to attend the second Indo-US strategic dialogue, said:

We are allies in the fight against violent extremist networks.  And, homeland security is a high priority and a source of increasing partnership.

That’s why we signed the Counterterrorism Cooperative Initiative to increase our cooperation on the investigation of crimes, law enforcement, border management and cyber security.