India’s foreign minister explains why the MEA needs a separate division to monitor emerging technology

• Indian external affairs minister Subrahmanyan Jaishankar explained why the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) needs its own new, emerging and strategic technologies (NEST) division.
  
• As a stakeholder in national security, MEA must monitor cyber threats as well.
  
• While the nature of technology may not be strategic, it can become so in the hands of a strategic player.
  

Technology is no longer just about economics — it dictates a country's cyber might and leads to fears of governments spying on each other.

However, the strategic importance of technology depends on a number of different factors, according to External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyan Jaishankar.

Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue 2020, Jaishankar explained why the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) needs a separate division to monitor emerging technology.

“It is no longer realistic to deal with technology as economics, which used to be an old fashioned way around 20-30 years ago. Today technology is very strategic,” he said.

The question of national security
Cyberthreats are on the rise. Threat intelligence company Group-IB found that cyberspace was increasingly weaponised in 2019. Their report found that cyber weapons were used to carry out numerous military operations last year. In addition, the number of state-sponsored attackers is on the rise.

Jaishankar believes that since the MEA is a stakeholder in national security, it’s only logical that it should oversee technology that could pose a potential threat.

“There are technologies that are strategic in nature and it’s important for a ministry that analyses foreign affairs, which contributes to national security, to have a set of people who are competent, trained and focused to analyse those strategically relevant technologies,” explained Jaishankar.

His concerns seem valid in light of Lazarus — hackers based out of North Korea — targeting Indian government institutions like the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) in November last year.

However, Group IB finds that two of seven new cyber-espionage groups in 2019 — BITTER and Sidewinder — were state-sponsored hackers based out of India.

The strategic importance of technology varies
Most people believe that technology which circumvents consent — like Pegasus spyware infiltrating WhatsApp accounts — are the biggest threats to national security due to their predatory nature.

While that may be the primary determinant, Jaishankar feels technology can also become strategic on the basis of who’s using it.

“There are technologies, which in the hands of strategic players, becomes strategic technology. Some of it is the nature of technology, some of it is the user of technology, deployment of technology and the intent of technology,” he said.

So far, MEA’s new, emerging and strategic technologies (NEST) division said that it will monitor the implementation of 5G and artificial intelligence (AI). Its mandate, however, extends to developing India’s external technology policy in line with national security goals.

See also:
Cloud, 5G and 'wetware' attacks — the 5 biggest cybersecurity threats of 2020

RBI's new cybersecurity guidelines are pushing India's 1,574 urban cooperative banks to bring digital services up to snuff

Indian nuclear plant hack is only one small part of a much 'bigger' operation, according to a cybersecurity expert