The India-US Cyber Security Forum was established in 2001 pursuant to a decision taken during the visit of the then Indian Prime Minister to the United States in 2001. The Forum, which grew out of our counterterrorism dialogue, is dedicated to protecting
the critical infrastructure of the knowledge-based economy. Government agencies and private sector participants from India and the United States, working under the Forum's auspices, have identified risks and common concerns in cyber security and crafted an
action-oriented work plan on securing networked information systems.
The Forum focuses on cyber-security, cyber-forensics and related research and works towards enhancing co-operation among law enforcement agencies on both sides in dealing with cyber crime.
CERT-In and US National Cyber Security Division will share expertise in artifact analysis (i.e. analysis of traces of virus / worm software), network traffic analysis, and exchange of information.
Defence services of both the countries will enhance their interaction through exchange of experience in organizational, technological, and procedural aspects.
Ongoing co-operation between India's STQC and the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will expand to new areas including harmonization of standards.
CII and their US counterpart have decided to set up an India Information Sharing and Analysis Centre (ISAC) and India Anti-Bot Alliance (‘bot' refers to software that can be tasked to invade computers and undertake malicious activities remotely on behalf of
hackers).
The January 2006 3rd Plenary in New Delhi resulted in ambitious action plans for the Forum's five Working Groups, which include seminars, workshops and expert level exchanges. Two additional areas of co-operation (i) transportation and (ii) financial sectors
are being discussed to be included in the scope of IUSCSF – and safeguards for sub-outsourcing by India are also under discussion.
A draft Protocol on cyber security, between the NSCS and the State Department is under discussion.
New Delhi
March 2, 2006