Gen. Bipin Rawat, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), said at an event in New Delhi on Wednesday that China can disrupt networks by launching cyber attacks on India, and that a strategy is being prepared to counter such a move.
Speaking on how to prepare the armed forces to address current and future challenges at the Vivekananda International Foundation, Gen. Bipin Rawat said that China has a first-mover advantage because India has been reluctant to implement cyber warfare capabilities, resulting in the gaps.
Although China has an advantage in cyber warfare, the Gen. Rawat claims that India is improving its technology to keep up. He added that the largest difference is in the area of cyber security between the two countries. He said China is capable of launching cyber attacks against us and disrupting a wide range of networks.
He said India is attempting to develop a framework that will strengthen cyber defence. India has been able to establish a cyber agency within the armed forces, and each service has its own cyber agency, so that even if India is subjected to a cyber assault, the downtime is limited.
Gen Rawat said that although India is working to build cyber-firewalls, someone might be able to get through them. India is trying to figure out how long the systems will be down and how it will be able to function during the period of cyber attack process that we’ve been through. This is something India is seriously considering.