Recognising the importance of electronic interdependencies, India and the United States on Thursday agreed for greater cooperation to protect electronic transactions and critical infrastructure from cyber crime.

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"The two sides recognised the importance of capacity building in cyber security and greater cooperation to secure their growing electronic interdependencies, including to protect electronic transactions and critical infrastructure from cyber crime, terrorism and other malicious threats," the Indo-US joint statement said.

The Indo-US cyber security forum, which was established in 2001, has identified risks and common concerns in cyber security and crafted an action-oriented work plan on securing networked information systems.

The Singh-Bush Joint Statement

The focus of the forum was on cyber security, cyber forensics and related research and works towards enhancing cooperation among law enforcement agencies on both sides in dealing with cyber crime. As part of the agreement, ongoing cooperation between India and the US National Institute of standards and technology would expand to new areas including harmonisation of standards.

CII and its US counterpart will also set up an India Information Sharing and Analysis Centre and India anti-bot alliance (anti-hacking mechanism). Under the agreement, defence services of both the countries would also enhance their interaction through exchange of experience in organizational, technological and procedural aspects.