India and Israel sign agreement to expand cooperation in cyber security

India and Israel have signed an agreement to furr expand collaboration in dealing with cyber threats amid rapid digitisation due to coronavirus pandemic that exposed vulnerabilities of virtual world.

agreement was signed on Wednesday between Director-General of Israel's National Cyber Directorate (INCD), Yigal Unna, and India's Ambassador to Israel, Sanjeev Singla.

"Deepening cooperation with India is ar important step in confronting global cyber threats," Unna said.

" accelerated digitisation processes that accompany ermous challenge of dealing with COVID-19 epidemic and increase in threats in cyber bring with m challenges and need to quickly build protected services and systems," Unna told PTI after signing agreement.

"Israel can contribute from its experience and can benefit from vast experience gained in India in dealing with cyber attacks," he added.

Anuncing signing of MoU on operational collaboration in cyber security, Indian embassy's twitter handle described it as a "new rmal" in "staying course and reaching newer heights toger".

“Cyber security is a growing and natural area of close cooperation between India and Israel. It has been emphasised strongly by our two Prime Ministers. And its relevance has been underscored by latest COVID-19 pandemic,” Singla told PTI.

MoU signed between Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), a unit of Ministry of Electronics and Information Techlogy, and INCD deepens operational cooperation between two sides and will expand scope of exchange of information on cyber threats in order to raise levels of protection in field.

agreement lays down framework for dialogue, cooperation in capacity building, mutual exchange of best practices in field and facilitates regular exchanges.

Cyber security was identified as an important area of cooperation during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel in July 2017 and an agreement was signed between two sides during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to India following year.

"India and Israel have been cooperating in cyber field since January 2018, so a new agreement is ar opportunity to reaffirm mutual commitment between two countries. Since initial agreement, professional seminars have been held among industry and government officials and many reciprocal visits have taken place," a press release by INCD said.

Several meetings have been held between Indian and Israeli side since 2018 to strengn cooperation in field of cyber security.

Lt General (Retd) (Dr) Rajesh Pant, National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC) of India had also visited Israel to attend Cyber Week in June 2019.

last five months of global lockdown has witnessed expanding scope of digital world and in process, it has also exposed vulnerabilities of protecting vital national infrastructure from threat of cyber attacks.

(Photo Credit: Twitter/indemtel)