Britain and India are expected to agree to set up a joint task force to
fight cyber crime on Tuesday, a move London hopes will help it safeguard
the personal banking and mobile phone data of millions of Britons, much
of which is stored on Indian servers.
The agreement is expected to be
sealed at a meeting between British Prime Minister David Cameron and
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in New Delhi, one of the
highlights of Cameron's three-day trade and investment trip to India.
"The
two leaders are expected to agree a substantial strengthening of
practical co-operation between British and Indian authorities to
increase the security of British and Indian computer networks and to
help defend them against cyber attacks by terrorists, criminals and
hostile states," Cameron's office said in a statement.
It said
India was set to have one of the biggest online populations by 2015 with
an expected 300 million users larger than the United States and up
from the 137 million users already in India today.
Cameron told
reporters "I think why we're forging these partnerships with other
countries including trusted partners like India is twofold.
"One
is, other countries securing their data is effectively helping us
secure our data. Secondly, I think this is an area where Britain has
some real competitive and technology advantages."
© Thomson Reuters 2013