Abstract
The character of warfare is undergoing a structural transformation driven by the integration of cyberspace into the functioning of modern states, economies and military establishments. This article examines how three interconnected aspects of this transformation affect India’s national security. First, it traces the evolution of cyber-enabled conflict from 1970s information warfare debates to landmark incidents like Estonia (2007), Georgia (2008) and Stuxnet (2010), demonstrating how cyberspace has become a critical domain of strategic competition. Second, it analyses the strategic, operational and force modernisation implications of this domain for India, including the cyber-nuclear stability challenge in South Asia, the exploitation of India’s expanding digital attack surface by state-sponsored adversaries such as China’s RedEcho group and Pakistan’s Transparent Tribe (APT36) and the cyber vulnerabilities introduced by India’s ongoing military modernisation. Third, it makes the case for integrated cyber defence (covering inter-service, civil-military, and industry-academic integrations) as a strategic necessity, arguing that India’s current institutional architecture, centred on the Defence Cyber Agency established in 2019, falls short of the unified command structure that the threat environment demands. The article concludes that India’s cyber challenge is fundamentally one of integration: translating significant but fragmented technical and institutional capacity into a coherent, resilient and responsive national cyber defence framework.
