CYBER SECURITY CHALLENGES IN SOUTH ASIA AND ROOM FOR CYBER DIPLOMACY

Abstract

With the advent of information revolution, states are tangled into an undeclared cyber war. The paper starts with some glimpses of cyberwar between India and Pakistan then it underlines the consequences that cyberwar may lead towards unimaginable circumstances. It then recommends cyber diplomacy at regional and global level to pacify the cyberwar. The Budapest Convention, Tallinn Manual, The United Nations Resolutions 64/211 and International Multilateral Partnership against Cyber Threats, have been the plausible feats that achieved niftier support from international actors. The paper also discusses that cyberwar and cyber diplomacy are simultaneously at play between great powers. The paper highlights undeclared cyberwar between great powers but it mainly focuses on India and Pakistan (South Asian region). Though India and Pakistan are nuclear actors but they still face numerous cyber threats to their strategic and financial institutions. It underlines the challenges that cyberwar incurs. This paper recommends cyber confidence building measures between India and Pakistan to pre-empt any undesirable incident perpetrated by unknown hacktivists.