It is not clear whether India’s National Security advisor had bilateral talks with his counterparts from BRICS, the most anticipated being with Wang Yi

NEW DELHI: National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval during the BRICS NSAs meet in Johannesburg on Monday highlighted the connection between cyber criminals and terrorists.

“The younger population is particularly vulnerable to the spread of extremist ideologies via social media sites as they are technology savvy and have impressionable minds,” he is reported to have said at the ‘Friends of BRICS’ meeting where the issue of cybersecurity was discussed in detail.

In addition to the BRICS members, the invited participants included representatives from Belarus, Burundi, Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kazakhstan and Cuba. This meeting is being held as a run-up to the BRICS Summit that would be held between August 22 and 24. Nikolai Pastrushev represented Russia. Wang Yi China also participated.

Doval emphasised the need for collective efforts to counter the challenges emerging from the threat of cybersecurity. “The Global South in particular needs to overcome limitations of resources. In this regard, India will always remain at the forefront and work closely with the Global South,” Doval said.

The National Security Advisor also underlined that the gravity of cyber risks will increase exponentially with the advent of disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), Big Data and the Internet of Things.

In the ‘Friends of BRICS’ meet, Doval also spoke about the linkage between cyber criminals and terrorists, including the use of cyberspace for financing, money laundering, radicalising, lone wolf attacks, and recruitment secured communications, among other things.

It is not clear on whether India’s National Security advisor had bilateral talks with his counterparts from BRICS, the most anticipated being with Wang Yi. Meanwhile, Wang Yi before coming to Johannesburg, made a surprise stopover in Addis Ababa and reiterated that Beijing was willing to play a positive role in easing Ethiopia’s debt pressure.

Ethiopia has an estimated USD 13.7 billion in debt to China, much of it advanced by China Exim Bank between 2000 and 2021. The Chinese capital has funded the USD 4.5 billion Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway, along with other projects such as the capital’s Riverside Green Development and a light-rail network.