No global agreement on cyber security possible: Former Home Secretary GK Pillai
Bengaluru: The digital world is here and it’s here to stay - that much is beyond argument, said former Home Secretary of India G.K. Pillai, who delivered the keynote address on the final day of Cyber 360, a conclave organised by the Synergia Foundation. “The news over the last three days has included mega city security challenges, nano particle computers and the development of software systems that cannot be hacked. Technology is moving so rapidly that in a sense, we’re all just running to keep up.”
However, reaching a global consensus on the rules that should dictate the cyber world is harder than it seems. “This is because of the skewed nature of dominance in favour of a few countries,” he said. “It's unlikely that there will be any major agreement at the international level because every country looks after its own interests.” This becomes evident in times of war. “People pay lip service to the idea of bringing in regulations but it’s only when trouble begins to brew in their own backyards that they begin to take security more seriously.”
That has pushed countries toward developing their own safety measures. “You have the state sector, the private sector and the state supported players. The last category is going to be in more and more demand, because the state wants reliability.”
Countries, which are ruled by this overarching sense of ‘national interest’, as Pillai put it, can have policies that are fluid in terms of ethics. “It’s a you scratch my back, I scratch yours approach to cyber security,” he explained. “As long as the countries in the agreement are not harmed, a blind eye is turned if someone else is. What are the terms of the agreement, exactly? Nobody knows. That is why intellectual property is so important.”
Hacking is looking at a period of exponential growth. Why? Countries will go into the offensive mode, there will be more and more state supported players and hacking will be the next big thing. “This is more than just phishing or individual attacks. There is big money in the dark web.”
The worry is that there is no clarity on which side one fights for at any time. “It’s like the global war on terrorism - Saudi Arabia is the elephant in the room. Neither the U.S. nor the U.K. was willing to point a finger at them and hold them responsible for the mess in the Middle East.” The IS is spoken of as the greatest danger, “but who are the countries that fund it?” he asked. “Nobody is willing to impose economic sanctions against countries known to support the IS financially, even if it is the No. 1 enemy to the U.S. As long as those who support it are my friends, they can do as they please. That is the true nature of politics.
Cyber security is a great opportunity and there is a lot of money in it, said Pillai. “There is never any guarantee that you will be safe. Nobody who makes an anti-virus software is going to say ‘sue me if you get hacked’.”
Cyber security is important, too, but there is no cause for panic, Pillai added. “You will be vulnerable. If everybody has access to smartphones, this vulnerability will only increase.”
