Indian Army to set CCOSW: What is cyber warfare and where does India stand?

New Delhi: To strengthen its online networks and defend them against China and Pakistan‘s growing efforts to target India in the virtual world, the Indian Army is getting ready to create command cyber operations and support wings (CCOSW). The decision to operationalise CCOSW was made during the Army Commanders Conference, which analysed the present and emerging security scenarios and evaluated the operational preparedness of the Indian Army, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Defence on April 27, 2023. 

The move is being made as the Indian Army attempts to update its communication infrastructure and defend its networks from new security threats.

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What is cyber warfare?

There is substantial disagreement among specialists as to whether actions exactly constitute cyberwarfare. Although the US Department of Defence (DOD) claims that using computers and the internet to wage war in cyberspace poses a threat to national security, it is unclear why certain actions are considered to constitute cyberwarfare while others are just classified as cybercrime.

However, one of the generally recognised definitions of cyber warfare is that it aims to advance the objectives of one nation-state over another. Cyberwarfare has the ability to harm civilian and governmental infrastructure, which might interfere with vital systems and cause harm to the country or casualties.

India: Reality and needs

India falls into the third tier of nations in terms of its ability to wage cyberwar. The size of the nation’s digital economy, the sophistication of its intelligence and security activities, and the degree to which cyber facilities were linked with military operations all played a role in how this post was allotted. The US is the lone top-tier nation on this list, followed closely by China and Russia.

According to Shravishtha Ajaykumar, Associate Fellow at the Centre for Security, plan and Technology, unlike the other nations mentioned, India still doesn’t have a complete, contemporary, and up-to-date cyber warfare plan. India has a National Cybersecurity Policy from 2013 and is in the process of finalising a National Cybersecurity Strategy for 2020. However, neither active espionage nor armed war is included under these.

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India established its Defence Cyber Agency (DCA) in May 2021. The DCA collaborates closely with the National Security Council, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the National Technological Research Organisation, and the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) of India. These businesses have frequently been the subject of cyberattacks, but with the addition of the DCA, their protection level has increased. The DCA seeks to block any attempts to get access to vital military facilities by attacking their authorities.

India solely addresses cybersecurity issues and attacks in these capacities; cyberwarfare is not covered. That is, rather than the deployment of technology in real combat, the focus at the moment is the significance of civic and military data. 

India has to change its existing perception of cybersecurity from one that may be used to deliberately hurt in times of conflict to one that can be used as a sort of espionage, Shravishtha Ajaykumar argued.