National Security

Starlink: Threat or Opportunity for Indian National Security?

Starlink’s entry could undermine India’s control over internet services, create dependencies, and enhance U.S. military capabilities in the Indian hinterland. With Starlink and StarShield’s potential for military use, India must focus on maintaining sovereignty over its ICT networks and develop its own satellite constellations.

Chinese Digital Paw Marks on India’s Critical Infrastructure

The Ides of March has since been used to caution all rulers, that all warnings to a sovereign need to be heeded and only disregarded after proper study. With de-escalation signals emanating from the LAC, a fresh digital salvo with much more strategic punch than salami slicing of the borders greeted India and its policy … Read moreChinese Digital Paw Marks on India’s Critical Infrastructure

Celebrating Independence 2020 Under Digital Slavery!!!

August 15, 2020, marked the 74th Independence Day for India. For a civilisational nation with a 5000-year history, 73 years marks just a blip in time. The year 2020; annus horribilis has unique challenges, the ritualistic celebration of Independence, gives a semblance of normality in challenging and difficult times. A global pandemic, disrupted economy and … Read moreCelebrating Independence 2020 Under Digital Slavery!!!

Huawei 5G And The Trusted Vendor

The world of cybersecurity and the national security pundits are in turmoil and the reasons for this is one two-letter word called 5G and a company called Huawei. In a delicious turn of events that should rewrite the scriptures of cybersecurity standards and narrative, the Western world is trapped in the dogma they created and … Read moreHuawei 5G And The Trusted Vendor

Break Free From Data Colonialism

Published in Business Today 2019. Economic liberalisation, globalisation and Information Technology (IT) are intertwined in our minds as all three took place simultaneously in India in the early 1990s, doing away with the infamous Licence Raj that used to control the country’s economy. But our policymakers need to appreciate that all three have different nuances … Read moreBreak Free From Data Colonialism

A clear and present danger

An essay published in the Asian Age in 2018. The need to regulate cyberspace is obvious, that these are being sabotaged by vested interests which see India as the largest single market for data as the Chinese have carefully protected their data flows and have domestic equivalents to Western giants is known.

OF Fashionable Discourses And Simplistic Narratives

Surgical strikes a fashionable phrase that has entered Indian public discourse has interesting origins. The Collins English dictionary defines it as ‘a military action designed to destroy a particular target without harming other people or damaging other buildings near it‘. The term was first used during the first Gulf War. The use of precision guided missiles to take out military targets avoiding civilian casualties. It … Read moreOF Fashionable Discourses And Simplistic Narratives

The Coming Election Wars – Mayhem in 2019

For the Information Warrior especially those that openly practice cynicism and question the scriptures of information security dogma, predictions and prophesy can be a high-risk past time. In spite of all this after sufficiently stirring the tea leaves this particular prophecy is tempting to make. The elections of 2019 in India are easily going to … Read moreThe Coming Election Wars – Mayhem in 2019

Power Flows From The Smartphones

The Chinese Communist leader Chairman Mao Zedong famously coined this phrase “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” This phrase is a limited explanation in the framework of the origins of political power as espoused by Mao Zedong.  Chairman Mao was already the undisputed leader of the Communist revolution and the Peoples Liberation Army, an … Read morePower Flows From The Smartphones