India, US ink accord on cyber security

The memorandum of understanding on cyber security was signed by R. Chandrashekhar, secretary, India Department of Information Technology, and Jane Holl Lute, deputy secretary for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The agreement entails closer cooperation and the timely exchange of information on cyber security.

The pact was signed on a day US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and External Affairs Minister held the second India-US strategic dialogue that focused on expanding counter-terror cooperation.

"The agreement helps fulfill the joint commitment of both nations to advancing global security and countering terrorism, one of the pillars of the US-India Strategic Dialogue launched on July 20, 2009," a statement from the US embassy said. The accord sets out best practices for the exchange of critical cyber security information and expertise between the two governments through the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), Department of Information Technology, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, and DHS' United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT).

The agreement will allow both the US and India governments and broader cyber security communities in the two countries to coordinate on a broad range of technical and operational cyber issues. The cyber security agreement flowed from the first comprehensive bilateral dialogue on homeland security issues between the US and India that was held in May.