'India Should Be More Aware of Cyber-Security Threats'

India should be more aware of cyber-security threats and the time to act in this regard is now, an Israeli security solutions firm has said even as it averred that the two countries have many common "opponents".

"I believe India should be more aware of cyber threats. I am sure that once India will be aware of cyber threats, the necessary steps would be taken," Zori Kor, Vice President of Israeli firm ASERO Worldwide, said in New Delhi.

Stressing on the importance of having cyber-security, Kor said it was "unfortunate" that the Indian public is not fully aware of threats in this field, which can even have a ripple effect on the economy.

"As the public still doesn't understand how complex the challenge is, may be some decision makers are hesitating whether to take the necessary steps in order to meet the future challenges," said Kor, who is on a visit to India in connection with an upcoming homeland security conference in Israel.

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"My recommendation is to start dealing with it (cyber-security needs) now because it takes time," said Kor, who recently retired from Israeli Security Agency after 25 years of service in a number of counter-terrorism and protective security posts.

Adding that cyber-security is not an area where one size fits all as the environment and threats keep changing from time to time, he said, "If we answer only the current situation, it might not be good enough. We have to think what the bad guy's next step would be in order to answer that."

Talking about the salient features of Israeli security capabilities, he said the country believes in partnership and in sharing knowledge and experience regarding implementation of technological platforms for internal security.

"We are in the same boat. Many of our opponents are unfortunately yours as well because we have good ideas and creativity and so do you. So, whoever is trying to steal good ideas from us might want to steal it from you as well," he said while opining that India was one of the "few friends" that Israel had.

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India is now the main export target of the Israeli defence industry; however, both countries avoid revealing details about the scale and nature of their security trade.

In 2012, the Israeli defence ministry announced that the country's defence exports stood at an annual $7 billion (Rs. 43,000 crores approximately) of which homeland security accounted for about $1.5 billion (Rs. 9,000 crores approximately).