Cyber warfare: Indian ambitions

[Syed_45]

With the technological revolution in the 21st century, the very concept of “warfare” has been changed. During these days, situational awareness, contextual information, discerning disposition and synergized action in military operations yield greater importance. All these operations, rely heavily on technological sophistication. Indian Armed forces have been very keen to develop cyber war fighting capabilities. Digitized battlefield has altered the very notion of traditional paradigm of security. Increasing reliance on electronic mediums for transactions, online data basis and E- governance has rendered states more vulnerable. Thousand of mediums need to be protected. Cyber space is an entity having significance for both military and civilians. In this writing, we will be more concerned about the military domain. First of all we will understand the Information Environment in cyber space. Any information in cyber space is stored in the form of code that gets displayed as content on a graphic user interface (GUI).

Now we will discuss some characteristics of “cyber warfare” as envisioned by Indian strategist. Cyber warfare is an Asymmetric warfare. Even weak adversaries can launch such attacks. It is difficult to recognize perpetrators of this attack. Attacks may emanate from third/neutral countries from co-opted servers. It is very difficult to define the premise of a “Cyber Attack” on basis of which you can carry out punitive (Kinetic action). Originators of attack, if identified may not have any assets or organizational structures to be retaliated against. Cyber warfare has a cross domain linkage. An intrusion into any civilian data base might have many high level national security implications. Now according the mindset of Indian Armed Forces, we can classify following military targets within ambit of cyber warfare:

1. Command, Control, Communication, Computer Intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and logistic networks and systems. (C4ISR L)

1. Critical Information systems which may contain classified operational plans, Intelligence Data ,Critical technology and weapon control system

1. Decision Support and fire control systems

1. Navigation and guidance systems of complex platforms like aircraft, ships, missiles, drones and precision-guided munitions.

1. Exploiting the cognitive domain aimed at change in behavior and undermine the morale of combatants through well-orchestrated disinformation campaigns and perception management activities

The urge for creation of an Indian Defense Cyber Agency is getting stronger day by day. A tri armed formation having units in land, air and naval components is the need of hour. Linking cyber power with the national power to achieve political objectives through armed means is what Indians deem. Synergizing cyber intelligence with Signals Intelligence, Electronic Intelligence (ELINT), Human Intelligence (HUMINT) and operational security for a comprehensive threat analysis in the information warfare domain, improves operational efficiency. Defense cyber agency must comprise of well-trained individuals. This agency will work in cohesion with other civilian bodies. All the offensive and defensive cyber operations will be executed through this body. Sufficient budgetary allocation must be ensured for smooth execution of operations. Many strategist are trying to develop a “Cyber Doctrine for the Indian Armed Forces”

“Indian Armed Forces Cyber Doctrine” will be multi layered resilience with active defense and deterrence. This doctrine would form the basis for developing full spectrum of cyber power in the armed forces which would comprise of cyber-crime investigation including cyber forensic, counter cyber terror operations, cyber espionage, and in-depth cyber defense with particular emphasis on platforms, cyber offensive, cyber deception, cyber-enabled operations and cyber war either by itself, or in conjunction with EW and kinetic means. Development of processes and capabilities for employing cyber power in different operations and training of cyber leaders must be top priority.

Accounting the action-reaction syndrome that over shadows Pakistan-India relations, It is imperative for Pakistan to start excelling in the cyber war fighting domain. Likewise Indian Defense Cyber Agency, Pakistan must develop a formation. Pakistan must ensure full spectrum deterrence even in the cyber domain. Till now, Inter-Services-Intelligence has done a remarkable job in combating cyber warfare. But with the increasing Indian obsession with the cyber warfare especially the electronic and network centric warfare, challenges have increased by manifolds for Pakistan Armed Forces.

 

[Signalian]

Please be specific : cyber warfare or cyber physical warfare?

 

[Syed_45]

Please be specific : cyber warfare or cyber physical warfare?

Sir considering Indian Land warfare doctrine, Joint Doctrine Armed forces, Indian Armed forces are relying heavily upon electronic war fighting capabilities & network centric warfare i.e formation of IBG'S. In this manner cyber warfare and cyber physical warfare are inter connected. Because cyber war fighting capabilities supplements other war fighting domains. Cyber warfare along side EW has developed more of a kinetic side

 

[Kompromat]

They're still trying to figure out who exactly hacked their most advanced nuclear reactor and had it shut down.

 

[Signalian]

Sir considering Indian Land warfare doctrine, Joint Doctrine Armed forces, Indian Armed forces are relying heavily upon electronic war fighting capabilities & network centric warfare i.e formation of IBG'S. In this manner cyber warfare and cyber physical warfare are inter connected. Because cyber war fighting capabilities supplements other war fighting domains. Cyber warfare along side EW has developed more of a kinetic side

If i may go in depth of Cyber physical systems (CPS) and CPS security while you can continue on cyber security warfare/threats.

Cyber Physical System is often used to describe “engineered systems that are built from, and depend upon, the seamless integration of computational algorithms and physical components.”

In this definition, “cyber” refers to the computers, software, data structures, and networks that support decision-making within the system, and “physical” denotes not only the parts of the physical systems (e.g., the mechanical and electrical components of an automated vehicle) but also the physical world in which the system interacts (e.g.,airspace and pilots/troops or roads and pedestrians).

Physical components of CPS platforms include:
- an amalgamation of electro-mechanical sensors and actuators
- a communication stack
- memory
- a processing unit

CPS Security
The principle goal of CPS security is to monitor the behavior of the physical components and adjust their behaviors through the proper control signals. Due to their reliance on wireless technologies with shared mediums, communication between the components is vulnerable to various attacks such as jamming, spoofing, meaconing etc.

Example
UAVs are cyber-physical systems, meaning that their operations are reliant on the interaction between physical and computational elements of the system. Consequently, security of a UAV is dependent not only on the computation and communications elements and protocols, but also on the physical components of the system.

Typical CPS attack on a UAV and its networks are listed below

(From Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno, USA)

Another example of Cyber-Physical attacks on UAV​

(from Security, Privacy, and Safety Aspects of Civilian Drones: A Survey -November 2016)

 

[Syed_45]

If i may go in depth of Cyber physical systems (CPS) and CPS security while you can continue on cyber security warfare/threats.

Cyber Physical System is often used to describe “engineered systems that are built from, and depend upon, the seamless integration of computational algorithms and physical components.”

In this definition, “cyber” refers to the computers, software, data structures, and networks that support decision-making within the system, and “physical” denotes not only the parts of the physical systems (e.g., the mechanical and electrical components of an automated vehicle) but also the physical world in which the system interacts (e.g.,airspace and pilots/troops or roads and pedestrians).

Physical components of CPS platforms include:
- an amalgamation of electro-mechanical sensors and actuators
- a communication stack
- memory
- a processing unit

CPS Security
The principle goal of CPS security is to monitor the behavior of the physical components and adjust their behaviors through the proper control signals. Due to their reliance on wireless technologies with shared mediums, communication between the components is vulnerable to various attacks such as jamming, spoofing, meaconing etc.

Example
UAVs are cyber-physical systems, meaning that their operations are reliant on the interaction between physical and computational elements of the system. Consequently, security of a UAV is dependent not only on the computation and communications elements and protocols, but also on the physical components of the system.

Typical CPS attack on a UAV and its networks are listed below

View attachment 611991
(From Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno, USA)

Another example of Cyber-Physical attacks on UAV​

View attachment 611992

(from Security, Privacy, and Safety Aspects of Civilian Drones: A Survey -November 2016)

Sir thanks alot. This piece of writing has further helped me to understand core concepts regarding cyber physical systems. So much information in a simple language. It is very useful

 

[SQ8]

Pakistan’s focus when developing our(still insufficient and not widely adopted ) cyber security systems was the NSA - not India. Much much much higher level of threat.

 

[Zulfiqar]

Pakistan’s focus when developing our(still insufficient and not widely adopted ) cyber security systems was the NSA - not India. Much much much higher level of threat.

Where do you see us in next 5 yrs and 10 yrs in this field?

 

[Zarvan]

They're still trying to figure out who exactly hacked their most advanced nuclear reactor and had it shut down.

I have been saying this for long time we need our very own NSA which is responsible for protection our cyber space as well as doing cyber warfare.

 

[R Wing]

Pakistan’s focus when developing our(still insufficient and not widely adopted ) cyber security systems was the NSA - not India. Much much much higher level of threat.

That's both encouraging and painful in equal measure --- painful because the levels at which our systems have been compromised over the years both through genuinely superior foreign SIGINT/ELINT and corrupt leadership is astounding.

 

[SQ8]

That's both encouraging and painful in equal measure --- painful because the levels at which our systems have been compromised over the years both through genuinely superior foreign SIGINT/ELINT and corrupt leadership is astounding.

The power of the blue passport compels most.

 

[R Wing]

The power of the blue passport compels most.

Blue passport + a few bags full of Benjamins is essentially heaven on Earth for most Pakistanis, regardless of seniority (as we saw with the recent sentencing of traitors, which is just the tip of the iceberg.)