Dark Web Nightmares

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Weak in attack and defence, India walks blind down an unseen war

Think national security and the first thing that comes to mind is the soldier sitting at the border, arms in hand, firing shell after shell to protect his sovereign country come what may. The images might be largely correct, but then long gone are the days of mechanised warfare fought on land with guns and tanks alone.

Armed forces throughout the world are now equipping themselves to fight a new kind of unseen war. These are ones fought behind computer screens, but those that have the ability to disrupt countries in ways that don’t just lead to bloodshed of a few at the border. They can trigger mass shutdowns, affecting the lives of common people in ways unimaginable a decade ago.

Cyber warfare—referred by the armed forces as fifth-generation warfare—is now a reality. It can be starkly seen in moves that have targeted Iranian nuclear reactors through a mass-spread virus, allegedly launched by the Israeli and American armed forces in 2012. Stuxnet, as it’s called, caused substantial damage not only to Iran, but other countries too. India has been the third-largest effected country using this attack, raising speculations that the malicious computer-work alone led to the shutdown of the country’s ISAT-4B satellite following a power failure in 2010. (ISRO later rubbished the claim.)


Intelligence officials privy to tactical info are barely given basic drills on checking themselves against computer attacks or phishing. Such being the growing military space, India—as the world’s fourth largest military superpower—is expected to possess cutting-edge technology to protect its military as well as its people. Yet, dig a little deeper and the cracks in protection begin to widen. India lies in a strategic position, with disputed borders between both China and Pakistan—the biggest threat to security.

China is considered one of the biggest powers in cyber security and is known to openly support and assist Islamabad in attacks directed towards India. Last year, it was uncovered that the Pakistani army was using a malware by the name of SmashApp to snoop into defence personnel’s personal mobiles and computers in order to retrieve sensitive information such as details on deployment and movement of troops as well as counter-terrorism operations. It still remains unclear to New Delhi what exactly and how much information was siphoned off and how it may be used against India.

The game of espionage—retrieving and using intelligence to one’s advantage—has taken a new turn, as military decisions, information as well as strategising have moved to occupying the internet. According to a high-ranking officer in the Indian armed forces, cyber warfare in the country is looked at with a multi-stakeholder perspective that involves the government, private sector and civil society. This is to say the country doesn’t at the moment have a one-point place for command for cyber security. “Most armies in the world, including ours, recognise cyber warfare and the need for a separate cyber command,” he says. “Yet, we are still at the initial stages of putting together a military cyber agency that will give way to a command in the future.”

India’s ability in cyber offensive remains mostly rudimentary. According to a high-ranking army official, “We have built capabilities to withstand cyber attacks by adversaries.” So, does India have offence capabilities? Well, “at the moment, we possess deterrence capabilities”, he says, but beyond that the armed forces have done “very little” in the area.