India, US agree to enhance efforts to combat cyber crime, promote cyber security

The United States and India have held the fifth U.S.-India Cyber Dialogue in New Delhi this week, and have agreed to enhance efforts to combat cyber crime and promote cyber security.

In a joint statement issued after the conclusion of the dialogue, both sides said, "The U.S.-India Cyber Dialogue reflects our nations' broad engagement and long-standing cooperation on important bilateral and global issues. The Cyber Dialogue is a forum for implementing the Framework for the India-U.S. Cyber relationship, in particular exchanging and discussing international cyber policies, comparing national cyber strategies, enhancing our efforts to combat cybercrime, and fostering capacity building and R&D, thus promoting cybersecurity and the digital economy."

 

The U.S.-India Cyber Dialogue is deepening bilateral cooperation on a wide range of cyber issues and strengthening the U.S.-India strategic partnership by:

· Exchanging information on cyber threats and issues of mutual concern, and discussing possible cooperative measures;

· Promoting bilateral cooperation on law enforcement and cybercrime issues;

· Creating a mechanism for cooperation, including setting up appropriate sub-groups;

· Affirming common objectives in international cyber fora, especially the application of international law to state behavior in cyberspace, the affirmation of norms of responsible state behavior, and the development of practical confidence-building measures;

· Confirming support for the preservation of openness and interoperability, enhanced by the multi-stakeholder system of Internet governance; and,

· Coordinating cyber capacity-building efforts, including testing and standards with respect to cybersecurity.

The whole-of-government Cyber Dialogue, fifth in the series, was led by the U.S. National Security Council Senior Director for Cyber Policy Samir Jain and by Santosh Jha, Joint Secretary for Policy Planning and Global Cyber Issues, Ministry of External Affairs.

The Department of State Coordinator for Cyber Issues Christopher Painter and the National Security Council Secretariat Joint Secretary Abhimanyu Ghosh co-hosted the Dialogue.

The U.S. government interagency delegation included representatives from the Departments of State, Homeland Security, and Commerce, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Indian government was represented by Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Communication, Ministry of Home Affairs, Computer Emergency Response Team, National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre, Central Bureau of Investigation and Defence Research and Development Organisation.

The two countries decided to hold the next round of the Cyber Dialogue in Washington in 2017.