Armed forces push deeper cyber ties with private sector

New Delhi: The armed forces have unveiled a new Joint Doctrine for Cyberspace Operations that places public-private partnership (PPP) at the heart of its strategy and looks at leveraging private expertise for national security, including solutions to enhance cyber security.

A declassified version of the doctrine, released by chief of defence staff Gen Anil Chauhan, says the complexity of cyber challenges-ranging from espionage and electromagnetic activity to attacks on cognitive domains- requires a collaborative approach to build capability.

The document highlights "strengthening public-private partnership" as a core strategy, urging structured engagement with private enterprises, research bodies and academic institutions to create resilient digital solutions for the defence forces.

The policy document says the forces will "encourage and facilitate indigenous startups/enterprises, including co-opting with industry and academia, platforms and solutions towards enhancing cyber security in armed forces".

While the forces already involve the private sector deeply into cyber operations-several Indian companies offer offensive and defensive tools that have already been put in use-the doctrine indicates that the intention is to move beyond traditional procurement to deeper collaboration.

This could include joint development, co-designing and operational integration with private sector specialists. Specifically, the doctrine advocates structured public-private engagement, talent flow from academia and creating platforms and solutions co-developed with the private sector.

Private sector support for capability development in emerging technology areas such as AI & ML , as well as secure supply chains for IT products is on the cards as the forces are looking at homegrown technology to form the backbone of military cyber systems.