Internet Society, ISPAI join hands to secure Internet infrastructure in India

In a bid to make Internet safe and secure in India, US-based nonprofit The Internet Society and the Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will look into securing routers which is vital for a healthy Internet infrastructure.

The partnership would promote the Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security (MANRS) -- a global initiative to implement the crucial fixes needed to reduce the most common threats to the Internet's routing system -- and safeguard the enterprises and the government from cyber threats.

"The need of the hour is to incorporate MANRS in the academic curriculum of the country so that when the youth join the workforce, they will know what measures to take and would not be vulnerable to Internet threats," Rajnesh Singh, Regional Bureau Director-Asia Pacific, The Internet Society, told IANS.

According to the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-in), 44,679, 49,455 and 50,362 cyber security incidents took place in India during 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively. These include phishing, website intrusions and defacements, virus and denial of service attacks, among others.

Routing security is vital to the future and stability of the Internet and MANRS would provide simple but concrete steps for network operators that enable dramatically improved Internet security and reliability.

"MANRS will not be limited to the members of Internet security providers in the country but will also be imparted to the elderly, youth and people especially in the rural areas," Rajesh Chharia, President, ISPAI, told IANS.

"However, there are growing concerns over cyber security and data security and the recent malware threats have impacted many globally," Chharia added.

In joining MANRS, participants commit to implement actions to address common challenges related to routing security such as filtering and anti-spoofing.

As part of the MoU, both ISPAI and ISOC will focus on capacity building to undertake initiatives and activities to promote adoption of MANRS in India, to cooperate and render mutual assistance and to encourage the attendance of ISPAI members to meetings, seminars, workshops and conferences on routing security.

The MoU will also see both organizations exchanging research information and training materials related to routing security.

"Cyber security is one of the top concerns for Internet users in the Asia Pacific region and unsecured routing is one of the most common reasons for malicious threats," Singh noted.

Virginia-headquartered The Internet Society was founded in 1992 by people involved with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

It is governed by a diverse board of trustees that is dedicated to ensuring that the Internet stays open, transparent and defined by the people who use it.

-IANS

rt/na/sed