*The Indian defense establishment really likes to leak intimidating head-fakes about their super-high-tech supersonic laser whatevers, so I am taking this report with a pinch of salt – in fact, with a boulder of salt.
*Nevertheless, this is some scary news. Vast swarms of Indian "ethical hackers" given James Bond style get-out-of-jail-free cards. Oh yeah. That's helpful. Never mind counter-hacking at China. Just imagine you're the Chief Technical Officer of the government computers in, say, Laos. Or the Maldives. Or, you know, any small, weak, Estonia-sized, poorly-budgeted place of strategic interest to India. Are you afraid? Well, you oughta be.
"NEW DELHI: Borrowing a page from China’s art of cyber war, the government is giving shape to an IT infrastructure setup manned by a small army of software professionals to spy on the classified data of hostile nations by hacking into their computer systems. (((Lemme know if you find their shoulder-patch.)))
"IT workers and ethical hackers who sign up for the ambitious project will be protected by law, says the proposal being discussed by senior government administrators. ((("Leak."))) The expertise of these professionals will be used to go on the offensive or preempt strikes by breaching the security walls of enemy systems. (((I'm trying to figure out what an "enemy system" looks like in a world where cyberwar is all carried out through hijacked botnets.)))
"The strategy of taking the fight to hackers was drafted at a high-level security meet on July 29 chaired by National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon. The meeting was attended by the director of Intelligence Bureau as well as senior officials of the telecom department, IT ministry and security agencies, documents seen by ET show. Departments whose officials were present at the meeting did not respond to ET emails. (((Nevertheless, somebody leaked this article. I'd be guessing a staffer for "National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon," since he's the with-it, hawklike guy who gets name-checked in the article.)))
"The government is worried about spying and sabotage from neighbouring countries, particularly China and Pakistan, after a spate of assaults on its computer systems in recent times. (((And, to be fair, the Indians have got plenty to worry about in that regard.))) The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto said in April that a clique of hackers based in China had conducted extensive spying operations in India, pilfering confidential documents from the defence ministry. (((And they said that because it's true.)))
"Though Beijing strongly denied any role in the attacks, (((I'm waiting for the day when the Chinese baldly say, "Yeah. We hacked it. Now come invade us, and see if you can get through our nuclear navy"))) the investigation pointed to the Chinese government’s tacit approval of the spying operations. The technical reconnaissance bureau of the People’s Liberation Army that is responsible for signals intelligence collection is headquartered in Chengdu, where the hackers had set up base. (((Just for the record, the Chinese public thinks that these Chengdu allegations are the silliest things in the world, and that any "attacks" out of Chengdu are mere pranks carried out by adorable apple-cheeked patriotic hacker teens.)))
"According to the government proposal, the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) along with Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) will be responsible for creating cyber-offensive capabilities. NTRO is a key government agency that gathers technical intelligence while DIA is tasked with collating inputs from the Navy, Army and Air Force. (((Somewhere there's an Indian IIT graduate watching a Bollywood movie, and he's leaning into the next seat to whisper into the fiancee's shell-like ear, and he's like: "Baby: I've gone to work for the 'National Technical Research Organization.' And, from now on, I can't tell you any more than that." And she's, like, squeezing his hand, all proud of him.)))
"The NTRO will also suggest measures to ensure legal protection to recruits, a move that is expected to coax software professionals into joining the government group because under the Indian IT Act, hacking is punishable with imprisonment up to three years, or carries a fine up to 2 lakh, or both...."
