Focus: GS II- International Relations
Why in News?
Quad Nations are launching a public campaign to improve cyber security across the Quad nations: the Quad Cyber Challenge.
The Challenge reflects the continuing Quad efforts to strengthen individuals’ and communities’ cyber security awareness and action, as well as to foster a more secure and resilient cyber ecosystem to benefit economies and users everywhere.
Internet-users worldwide are targets of cybercrime and other malicious cyber threats that can cost trillions of dollars each year and compromise sensitive, personal data.
Steps to be taken:
- Routinely installing security updates
- Enabling enhanced identity checks through multi-factor authentication
- Utilizing stronger and regularly changing passphrases
- Knowing how to identify common online scams, like phishing.
The Challenge provides:
- Resources, such as basic cyber-security information
- Training, for all users– from corporations to education institutions, small businesses, and individuals from grade school students to the elderly
About QUAD
- The Quad is an informal strategic forum comprising four nations, namely –India, United States of America, Australia and Japan.
- One of the primary objectives of the Quad is, to work for a free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.
- The group for the first time met in 2007 on the side lines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
- It is considered an alliance of maritime democracies.
- The forum is maintained through meetings, semi-regular summits, information exchanges, and military drills of all the member countries.
- The motive behind the Quad is, to keep the strategic sea routes in the Indo-Pacific, free of any military or political influence.
- The core objective of the Quad is, to secure a rules-based global order, freedom of navigation and, a liberal trading system.
- The coalition also aims to offer, alternative debt financing for nations in the Indo-Pacific region.
Purpose of Quad:
- Recently the U.S. has clarified that Quad is not a security or military partnership.
- Its purpose is to advance cooperation on key priorities in specific sectors that is consistent with international law
- It promotes shared values of its members and underpins peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
- A U.S. State Department spokesperson said that “We work to support the rule of law, freedom of navigation and overflight, peaceful resolution of disputes, democratic values, and territorial integrity through open dialogue and information sharing on a diverse set of issue areas, including Maritime Security”.
Significance of Quad:
- Quad is becoming a powerful mechanism and its significance is given below:
- Helping to vaccinate a big part of the world and getting a lot of vaccines out there,
- Strengthening maritime security to push back against aggression and coercion in the Indo-Pacific region,
- Working together on emerging technologies and making sure that they can be used in positive ways and an increasingly broad and deep agenda.
