This document summarizes Saumil Shah's presentation on cross-border cyber attacks and their impact on digital sovereignty. The presentation discusses major cyber attacks since 2010, how cyber defense remains reactive, and the evolving global cyber landscape. It notes India's growing digital presence and vulnerabilities to mass-scale financial theft, sabotage, and psychological manipulation via cross-border cyber attacks. The presentation calls for realigning India's digital posture through developing an "IndigenOS" based on open standards, strengthening the role of CERT-IN, implementing stronger protections for Aadhaar data privacy, and establishing indigenous cryptography standards to bolster India's digital sovereignty.
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# whoami - Saumil Shah
CEO Net Square.
• Hacker, Speaker, Trainer,
Entrepreneur, Author.
• 20 years in Infosec.
• M.S. Computer Science
Purdue University.
• LinkedIn: saumilshah
• Twitter: @therealsaumil
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Agenda
• 2010-2018: A little bit of "history".
• Cyber Security – Attacks and Defense.
• Evolving Global Landscape.
• India's Emerging Digital Presence.
• Cross Border Cyber Threats.
• Realigning India's Digital Posture.
• Four Areas of Focus.
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Landmark Incidents since 2010
• Operation Aurora (2010) [1]
• Stuxnet (2010)
• WannaCry (2017)
• Petya/NotPetya (2017)
[1] JR03-2010 "Shadows in the Cloud" - Information Warfare Monitor & Shadowserver.org
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Lessons Learned from "History"
• Cost of Attacks << Cost of Defense
• Cyber Attacks/Campaigns work on a
MASS SCALE ...
Secondary
Primary
Initial
Attack
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Lessons Learned from "History"
• Cyber Security is still REACTIVE
– Stuck in "RULES, SIGNATURES, UPDATES"
– Security by Audit COMPLIANCE
• Every large organisation breached in the
past 5 years has been "100% Compliant"
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WannaCry/Petya: Reality Check
• Lots of Unpatched
and EOL systems!
• DR was a Disaster!
– < 5% effective
Backups.
– Average Recovery
Time ~48hrs.
• Airgapped networks
were reachable!
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Cyber Defense in 2018
• "MITIGATE AGAINST KNOWN ATTACKS"
– Rules, Signatures, Updates, Patches
• Majority of the CISOs are stuck:
– COMPLIANCE and FIREFIGHTING
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Data Forensics in 2018
• Trapped in CAUSALITY.
• Largely driven by TOOLS.
• End Results:
– Recovery of lost/damaged data
– Attribution
• Needs to EVOLVE.
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The Info Asymmetry Game
Data Dominance
• Profiling, Analytics, Correlation
• Massive Interception, Exploitation
capabilities
Hardware Dominance
• Control of platform hardware and
firmware – (desktop, mobile)
• Control of telecom back-end
infrastructure
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The Info Asymmetry Game
Society and Psy-Ops
• Industrialisation of social media
manipulation
• Control over public opinion
Financing Ops
• SWIFT attacks, Ransomware
• Cryptocurrency hacks
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Cross Border Cyber Threats
Mass Scale
Financial Theft
Sabotage of
Critical Agencies
Recovery of
State Sensitive
Secrets
Psychological
Manipulation of
large populaces
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Cross Border Cyber Threats
Disruption of
Infrastructure
UPI, NPCI BSE, NSE Telecom
Power
Grid
Transport
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Realigning India's Digital Posture
Reaction Resistance Resilience
India's Digital
DNA
Critical
Infrastructure
AADHAR
Digital Privacy
Bharat Crypto
Standards
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"IndigenOS" – New Digital DNA
• Move the computing base from
PROPRIETARY to supported Open
Standards.
– No more closed source OSes.
• RESISTANCE and RESILIENCE against
Mass Attacks/Cyber Campaigns.
Nullcon '14: https://www.slideshare.net/saumilshah/nullcon2014-12yrs-andabakersdozen
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"IndigenOS" – New Digital DNA
• BOSS Linux (CDAC) is a good start.
• Subgraph OS, Qubes OS for higher
security standards.
• Custom builds and distributions for
various verticals.
• "Pays For Itself" – avoid astronomical
Microsoft license costs.
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"IndigenOS" – New Digital DNA
• Government + Academia + Startups
• Publish Open Application Development
Standards.
• Maintenance, Support and Update -
commercial services.
• Create a new Software Ecosystem.
• Incentivise adoption via smart policies.
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Critical Infrastructure and Services
• Govt and PSUs to transition to
"IndigenOS" based open platforms.
• Expansion of CERT-IN's role:
– cross sector advisories, incident response,
forensics and threat intelligence exchange
on a commercial basis.
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Critical Infrastructure and Services
• Data Forensics and Incident Response
evolved to a PROACTIVE approach.
– Monitoring of emerging attacks
– Malware Analysis
– Active use of Honeypots, Shadowserver, etc
• DFIR to be turned into a CYBER EARLY
WARNING SYSTEM.
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AADHAR and Digital Privacy
Protection of Citizens'
Digital Privacy is key to
preserving India's
Digital Sovereignty
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AADHAR Privacy Watchdog
• Government + Academia Collaboration
• Evolves regulations for use and access
of AADHAR data.
• Reports violations of private data abuse.
• EU's GDPR is the GOLD STANDARD on
citizen data privacy.
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Bharat Cryptography Standards
• Indigenously developed PUBLIC KEY and
SYMMETRIC KEY cryptosystems.
– using "Made in India" Mathematics.
• Consumer/Commercial grade crypto
• Critical/Military grade crypto
Nullcon '14: https://www.slideshare.net/saumilshah/nullcon2014-12yrs-andabakersdozen
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Bharat Cryptography Standards
• Publish as an Open Standard.
• Commercially supported Libraries and
Cryptosystems.
• Integral part of "IndigenOS" platform
and standards.
• Integral part of all of Digital India
Initiatives.