Cyber security should be understood as a subject of national security and should not be viewed only from the perspective of cyber crime as it is complex and multidisciplinary, DGP, Goa, Muktesh Chander has said. He said this in his keynote address on Information Security at the 46th All India Police Science Congress. The world is moving from the era of “cold war to code war”, where information has become vulnerable to misuse, but in India cyber threat is viewed from the perspective of cyber crime, he said.
Cyber threat is complex and multidisciplinary and as such cyber security should be understood as subject of national security, Chander said. Expressing concern that none of the institutions adhere to information security regulations, he highlighted the importance of classification and identification of assets running in computers and stressed on promoting culture of information security and follow international standards. Chander also said the existing infrastructure to secure information was “insufficient” to deal with future challenges and there was a need for a separate allocation in the budget to deal with cyber threats.
The police should indulge in better investigation of such offences and cyber security should be our priority, he said.
Speaking on Preventive Enforcement with respect to Narcotics, Himachal Pradesh DGP, Sitaram Mardi expressed grave concern over the growing problem of drug menace in the country. He advocated moving farmers away from growing narcotic plants by providing them alternate crops. Mardi suggested amending the Panchayati Raj Act to make Panchs responsible for wild growth and illicit cultivation of narcotic plants in their areas. IPS M V Rao in his presentation threw light on the correlation between illicit opium cultivation and Maoist insurgency in Jharkhand.
Director General, Bureau of Police research and development, AP Maheshwari advocated that every citizen is a policeman without uniform and every policeman is a citizen with uniform. Himachal Pradesh Governor Acharya Devvrat suggested that maximum use of latest techniques. He said that efforts should be made to implement the important suggestions given by citizens during intellectual session of this conference to enhance the efficiency of the police and achieving better coordination between the common citizens and the police can be established in future.
