The MoU sets out best practices for the exchange of cybersecurity intelligence and expertise between the two governments through the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), according to an announcement by the Department of Homeland Security.
Through this cybersecurity accord, the respective governments and broader cybersecurity communities in both the United States and India will cooperate with their counterparts on a range of technical and operational cybersecurity issues.
The MoU was signed Tuesday by R. Chandrashekhar, secretary of the India Department of Information Technology, and Jane Holl Lute, deputy secretary for the Department of Homeland Security.
"The agreement helps fulfill the joint commitment of both nations to advancing global security and countering terrorism, one of the pillars of the US-India Strategic Dialogue launched on July 20, 2009", a statement from the US embassy in India said.
The cybersecurity agreement grew out of the first comprehensive bilateral dialogue on homeland security issues between the US and India held in May between Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Indian Minister of Home Affairs P. Chidambaram.