New Delhi:
Days before handing over power to newly elected President Donald Trump, the Biden administration signed a pact with New Delhi that envisions strengthening cooperation in combating cybercrime and related challenges such as terrorist financing and violent extremism.
The agreement on cybercrime investigations, signed in Washington on Friday, will enable the concerned agencies of the two countries to increase the level of cooperation in cyber threat intelligence and digital forensics, an Indian read said.
It is the second such move in recent days by the outgoing Biden administration that reflected the overall upward trajectory of relations between the two nations.
The US on Wednesday lifted restrictions on three Indian nuclear entities: the Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC), the Indira Gandhi Atomic Research Center (IGCAR) and the Indian Rare Earths (IRE).
The lifting of restrictions is aimed at implementing the historic civil nuclear deal between India and the US concluded about 16 years ago.
The Memorandum of Understanding or MoU on Cybercrime Investigation was signed by Indian Ambassador Vinay Kwatra and Acting US Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Kristie Canegallo.
“Cybercrime has complex links with the common security challenges faced by India and the US, such as terrorism and violent extremism, terror financing, drug trafficking, organized crime, human trafficking, illegal migration, money laundering and transportation security,” the MEA said in the report. read out.
“The MoU on Cybercrime Investigations will enable further strengthening of security cooperation between India and the US, as part of our comprehensive and global strategic partnership,” the report said.
Based in New Delhi, the Union Home Ministry's Indian Cybercrime Coordination Center (I4C) will be responsible for implementing the MoU, the MEA said.
On the American side, it will be the Department of Homeland Security and its affiliated agencies – the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Homeland Security Investigations Cyber Crimes Center (C3) – that will be tasked with implementing the pact.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Our staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)