Lok Sabha Question No. 1062 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-02-08
Subject: MoU on Cyber Security
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: VINAYAK BHAURAO RAUT, DHARMENDRA YADAV, SHIVAJI ADHALRAO PATIL, Shrirang Appa Barne

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1062

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 08.02.2017

## MOU ON CYBER SECURITY

## 1062.   SHRI VINAYAK BHAURAO RAUT:

SHRI DHARMENDRA YADAV:

SHRI ADHALRAO PATIL SHIVAJIRAO:

SHRI SHRIRANG APPA BARNE:

Will the Minister of Electronics & Information Technology be pleased to state:-

- (a) whether  India  and  USA  have  signed  a  Memorandum  of  Understanding  (MoU)  on cooperation  in  the  field  of  cyber  security  and  the  MoU  intends  to  promote  closer cooperation and the exchange of information pertaining to the cyber security;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the extent to which the aforesaid MoU likely to help achieve the mutual benefits;
- (d) whether India and United States had also signed an MoU to promote a closer cooperation and  timely  exchange  of  information  between  the  organizations  of  their  respective Governments responsible for Cyber Security; and
- (e) if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  success  achieved  by  both  the  countries  to  resolve  the cyber security related issues?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARY)

- (a), (b)  and (c): India and the US signed a Framework for the US-India Cyber Relationship on 30 August 2016 in New Delhi.

India and the United States have agreed to cooperate in the following main areas:

1. Sharing of threat related information
2. Best  practices,  developing  Joint  Mechanism  to  promote  cooperation  in  the  field  of R&D, Standards & Testing, Capacity Building and Cybercrime.
3. Strengthening critical internet infrastructure in India.

This aforesaid Framework Agreement will be mutually beneficial with enhanced cooperation between  Law  Enforcement  Agencies  to  combat  cyber  crime.  Cooperation  on  Capacity building  and  skills  development,  joint  R&D,  cyber  security  standards  and  security  testing including accreditation process, cyber security products development can benefit us significantly by increasing the security of our cyberspace and protection of internet users.

(d)  and  (e):    In  pursuance  of  above  mentioned  framework  agreement,  a  Memorandum  of Understanding (MoU) between the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and  the  United  States  Computer  Emergency  Readiness  Team  (US-CERT),  Department  of Homeland Security, Government of United States of America (USA) to promote cooperation in  the  field  of  Cyber  Security  was  signed  by  Secretary,  Ministry  of  Electronics    & Information  Technology  (MeitY)    and  United  States  Ambassador  to  India  on  11 th January 2017 in New Delhi.

The scope of cooperation includes:

1. Exchange of information on cyber security incidents and Response to cyber security incidents;
2. Exchange of information on prevalent cyber security policies and best practices; and
3. Exchange of approaches to capacity building and developing the cyber workforce;

The  MoU  will  benefit  mutually  in  strengthening  cooperation  between  India  and  USA  to improve Cyber Security readiness and raise awareness and importance of keeping systems secure and security practices & procedures  updated.

The MoU facilitates cooperation on a range of activities which include:

- a) Exchange  information  on  security  issues,  including  indicators  of  compromise  and mitigation measures,  in order to prevent incidents and their recurrence.
- b) Coordinate response to cyber security events that may occur.
- c) Determining the threshold for involvement of external entities for effective incident response & resolution for incidents impacting US and India.
- d) Exchange assessments of the prevailing cyber security trends and best practices,  as observed by each participant.
- e) Identifying, elaborating, coordinating and implementing reasonable steps to secure the integrity  of  the  supply  chain  to  enhance  users  confidence  in  the  security  of  ICT products and services
- f) Invite each other to seminars/conferences held in respective countries to discuss cyber security issues
- g) Conduct of cyber security exercises covering different scenarios and emerging areas and, any other areas of cooperation as may be mutually agreed upon.
- h) Establishing mechanism for exchange of information on emerging threats, cooperation for incident resolution, promotion of best practices and capacity building for security of Industrial Control Systems and National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection.

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