THE ARREST of a senior scientist of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Pune last month on charges of espionage in a suspected honeytrap case involving social media has been “taken note of… in a very, very major manner” by the Indian Army’s Southern Command, which is also based in the city, Southern Army Commander Lt General A K Singh told The Indian Express.
Speaking at an Idea Exchange event Monday, Lt General Singh said the Army, however, has robust systems in place to prevent such incidents, including internal & external audits, surprise checks.
Asked whether the espionage case has concerned him, and prompted thinking on new measures to tackle such incidents, Singh said, “It has really affected us and we have taken note of it in a very, very major manner. This has always been one of our core concerns. The social media, the cases of honey-trapping because we are aware that both China and Pakistan use these media to their advantage. Specially Pakistan… They have a robust organisation and their sole purpose is this, how do we reach out to the Armed forces and the others, directly and indirectly… gain access, and then honeytrap and extract information. So we are very conscious of this particular effort and Armed forces and the Army, and especially in particular the Southern Army, has taken a large number of steps in this direction.”
Listing “surprise checks”, “external audits” and “exercises which we call cyber fortressing” among other measures, Singh said, “I don’t think there is any system which is absolutely foolproof. But it’s a dynamic process, and we keep continuously trying to find out what are our vulnerabilities and how do you plug them,”
Asked whether India employs similar tactics against other countries, Singh said, “We do everything and anything to protect our sovereignty.” (The transcript of the Idea Exchange will be published at a later date).
DRDO scientist Pradeep Kurulkar was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) on May 3 on charges of espionage and “wrongful communication” with Pakistan-based intelligence operatives in a suspected case of honeytrap.
