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India proposes global cyber pact to UN

Bipin Chandran

India wants the United Nations to be peace-keeper, not only on earth but also in cyberspace.

IT and Telecommunications Minister Pramod Mahajan has recently met UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in this regard. Annan has agreed to work on this.

India has proposed a cyber-crime protocol that will have the ratification of all nations.

Sources say Mahajan has also suggested setting up a high-level group of experts from the member-nations of the UN to draft an international agreement on cyber-crime.

The draft will define cyber-crime and identify ways to deal with various types of it. There will also be an agreement among nations to share information about cyber-criminals.

According to government sources, Mahajan told Annan that in the near future, cyber-wars between nations would become more common. These can be disastrous to a nation's economy. Today, most crimes on the web are economic in nature. Hackers try to break into company websites and corporate networks.

"The minister has impressed on the UN secretary-general the importance of combating cyber-crime. Countries should work together to prevent this," a government official said. "Now, even if you trace a person committing crimes like creating viruses, attacks on corporate networks or hacking, not much can be done. If there is a code generally accepted among nations, it will be easier to combat these," he said.

This move is important because virus attacks have become more frequent in recent months. Corporations around the world have lost serious money because of the attacks by viruses like Code Red and Nimbi, among others.

The Indian government is examining a proposal to spend Rs 3 billion for improving systems security in the country. The government websites have been the target of hackers. Some of those belong to Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, the ministry of external affairs, National Informatics Centre, Videsh Sanchar Nigam, Indian Institute of Science, and the department of telecommunication.

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