China can launch cyber attacks, India getting ready for it: Gen Bipin Rawat

New Delhi:  China can disrupt systems by launching cyber attacks on India and a mechanism is being readied to combat any such move, Chief of Defence Staff(CDS), General Bipin Rawat, said at an event here on Wednesday.
Speaking at the Vivekananda International Foundation on shaping the armed forces to meet the likely current and future challenges, General Rawat said, “We may not be able to fully catch up with China. So we are trying to develop some kind of a relationship with the western nations and see how better we can get some support from them, during peace time at least, which will help us overcome this deficiency.” Rawat said that China has the first movers advantage as India was slow to adopt cyber warfare capabilities, which has led to the gaps.
“The biggest differential lies in the cyber field. We know that China is capable of launching cyber attacks on us and it can disrupt a large number of systems,” he said.
According to the official data presented in the Parliament, India witnessed a nearly 300 per cent spike in cyber attacks last year in comparison to 2019, from 3,94,499 cases in 2019 to 11,58,208 in 2020, which is alarming for the government.
“What we are trying to do is create a system which will ensure cyber defence. We have been able to create a cyber agency within the armed forces and each service also has its own cyber agency, so that even if we come under a cyber attack, the downtime of the attack doesn’t last long,” Rawat said.