Social Networking Laws In India

With the fast growing social networking platforms in India it has become essential to enact effective social media laws in India. Presently social networking laws in India are not mature enough to take care of social media in the most appropriate manner. Social media is considered to be an Internet intermediary as per Indian cyber law. The recent controversy of Internet censorship in India has once again reiterated the importance of effective social media laws in India.

Social networking in India has increased tremendously. This has also given rise to many legal issues as well. Most of these legal issues are related to online acts or omissions that are resulting in giving rise to civil and criminal liabilities.

Laws ranging from intellectual property rights (IPRs) to information technology laws are applicable to social networking acts or omissions in India. The growing demands for cyber due diligence in India has further necessitated for adopting of a sound social networking policy in India by various stakeholders.

Social networking media is an “intermediary” within the meaning of Indian information technology act 2000 (IT Act 2000). Thus social networking sites in India are liable for various acts or omissions that are punishable under the laws of India. For instance, social networking sites are liable for online IPRs violations, including online copyright violations in India.

Although we have no law on the lines of online copyright infringement liability limitation Act (OCILLA) of United States yet the “safe harbour” provisions protecting intermediaries are not available under certain conditions as per Indian laws. Social networking sites must be aware of these limitations while operating in India.

At Perry4Law and Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) we have been spreading public awareness about social networking issues in general and cyber laws in particular. We hope that social networking sites would be cautious while operating in India.

Social Media Laws In India

Social media laws in India are in limelight these days. Social media websites are very popular among technology savvy as well as ordinary Netizens. More and more Netizens are joining social platforms to share their opinions, views, data and details. However, social networking laws in India are not adequate and properly drafted.

Social media includes social networking sites, blogs, forums, wikis, etc. Social media is growingly seen as a medium to connect with millions of professionals, friends and like minded individuals and organisations.

India is also witnessing a growing revolution of information and communication technology (ICT) and social media usage. However, till now we have no social media policy in India. Even we do not have dedicated social networking laws in India that can take care of the misuses of social platforms.

However, the framework and guidelines for use of social media for government organisations has been recently suggested by department of information technology. Theses guidelines provide an Indian social media framework for governmental departments and organisations that employees of these organisations must follow.

Perry4Law and Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) strongly recommend that Indian government must enact strong and effective social media laws, e-governance laws and e-commerce laws in India. These three fields are going to assume centre stage in the near future and their regulation by Indian government would be required.

Till now India has enacted a single technology law in the form of information technology act 2000 (IT Act 2000). It has tried to cover all the three issues but not with great success. This is so because these three fields are very vast and require a different treatment and separate law. Perry4Law and PTLB strongly recommend enacting suitable laws in this regard.

Internet Censorship In India

Internet in India is under potential threat of censorship and e-surveillance. Internet censorship in India has increased a lot. Similarly, e-surveillance in India has also increased to intolerable limits.

India has a draconian but cyber criminals’ friendly cyber law in the form of information technology act, 2000 (IT Act 2000). It was amended in 2008 to confer unregulated e-surveillance, Internet censorship and website blocking powers to Indian government and its agencies. The present cyber law of India is an unconstitutional one in the absence of procedural safeguards that can prevent these abusive draconian powers under the IT Act 2000. It requires an urgent repeal.

On top of it we have the proposed central monitoring system (CMS) project of India that has been proposed without any parliamentary oversight. Further, stress upon Internet kill switch is also given by India without realising that Internet kill switch is not a solution to cyber threats. Anti Internet kill switch measures are needed to prevent Indian government from taking recourse of any such unconstitutional and draconian action.

Website blocking and Internet censorship should be resisted as far as possible in India. This fight should be techno legal in nature where both technical and legal measures must be adopted to thwart surveillance and censorship activities of Indian government and its agencies. Proactive self defence in cyberspace is needed not only against alien enemies but also against our own Orwellian government.

Self defence in cyberspace is a concept whose time has come at both national and international level. At the national level of India self defence is required not only against cyber criminals but also against our own over zealous and e-surveillance oriented Indian government. Suggestions have been given in the past that United Nations (UN) must protect human rights in cyberspace as well. However, UN is not serious about protecting human rights in cyberspace.

At the national level, Indian government acquired itself unregulated, illegal and unconstitutional e-surveillance, Internet censorship and website blocking powers with no procedural safeguards. The information technology act, 2000 (IT Act 2000) was amended through the information technology amendment act 2008 (IT Act 2008) and this amendment gave unconstitutional and illegal powers to Indian government and its agencies. With the notification of the IT Act, 2008, the journey from welfare state to a police state was completed for India.

Instances of website blocking in India and Internet censorship in India have increased a lot. What is more worrisome is the fact that e-surveillance and Internet censorship in India have increased without any lawful interception law in India. Lawful interception law in India is missing and phone tapping in India is done in an unconstitutional manner.

Of all e-surveillance project, nothing is worst than the Aadhar project of India and its implementing unique identification authority of India (UIDAI) headed by Nandan Nilekani. Irrespective of what Nandan Nilekani and Indian government says, Aadhar project and UIDAI are serving a very vicious, evil and nefarious objective of e-surveillance without procedural safeguards. Surprisingly, even Google is censoring results pertaining to Aadhar project and UIDAI and is messing up with search placement results.

Now Internet intermediaries in India have been asked to pre screen contents before they are posted on their platforms by the account holders. India wants companies like Google and Facebook to censor users’ contents. In fact, Goggle web censorship has greatly increased in the past. Perhaps somebody at Google was already doing the pre screening of some web contents in India, with or without knowledge of Google.

Google has been in controversies from time to time. Whether it is illegal data gathering, censorship of Google news searches, manipulation of search results, etc, Google has been doing it all. In fact, it seems Google was actively helping Indian government and its agencies for messing up with Aadhar project, UIDAI, World Bank or any other similar post that questions the wrong practices of Indian government. During that period Google continued its censorship drive in India and many posts failed to appear in news, blogs and search segments.

What Internet intermediaries are facing now is a direct result of their succumbing to Indian government pressure and unconstitutional laws like IT Act 2008. They should have challenged the constitutional validity of IT Act 2008 that is the root cause of all these troubles. Fortunately Yahoo took Indian government to court over e-surveillance and more such litigations are expected in the near future. Let us see how cyber law of India would develop in this regard.

Online Dispute Resolution Services Are Growing

International online dispute resolution (international ODR) is no more a fiction. With growing disputes being resolved through an online mechanism, ODR has also assumed significance. ODR has significant advantages over not only traditional litigation methods but also against alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms.

International community is working really hard in the direction of recognising use of ODR as an effective dispute resolution mechanism. For instance, European Union has been considering use of ODR for cross border consumer disputes. Similarly, efforts of United Nations to streamline ODR are also well known. Similarly, use of ODR for cross border e-commerce transactions is also suggested. Similarly, WIPO is also using ODR for dispute resolution.

These international efforts must also be implemented at the national level. In other words, ODR needs international harmonisation to be effective. If we implement ODR at the international level alone, using ODR at national level would never be successful.

For instance, online dispute resolution in India is still evolving. ADR and ODR services in India are still in their infancy stages. Obviously, online dispute resolution services in India are still maturing. We have very few online dispute resolution centers in India. Further, Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) is the sole techno legal ADR and ODR services provider in India.

Interest in ODR must be invoked among the stakeholders at both national and international level. ODR can be really effective where stakeholders are located at different jurisdiction. With the help of technology, disputes can be resolved without even leaving the residence of any party. Let us hope that ODR would be used at mass scale and at all levels to resolve disputes in the best possible manner.

Surveillance of Internet Traffic In India

E-surveillance in India is no more a secret as Indian government is openly engaging in e-surveillance activities. This is despite the fact that an unregulated and unguided e-surveillance is violating the civil liberties protection in cyberspace in India.

Now e-surveillance is proposed to be expanded to even mobile infrastructure. The cell site location based e-surveillance in India is also in contemplation. Cell site data location laws in India and privacy issues are once again bypassed for this proposal. Even the e-surveillance policy of India is missing that can provide some safeguards against illegal and unconstitutional e-surveillance in India.

Similarly projects like Aadhar project of India, central monitoring system project of India, etc are also intended to strengthen the e-surveillance capabilities of India without and constitutional safeguards.

On the top of India, India is trying every possible method to discourage the cyber security initiatives like encryption. Encryption policy of India is missing and so are encryption laws in India.

Now Indian government has forced the telecom service providers and internet service providers (ISPs) to deploy monitoring equipment for surveillance of internet traffic as per the conditions of the respective license agreements and as per the requirements of security agencies. At present, indigenous internet monitoring systems are being deployed in the network of ISPs.

Based on the feedback and traffic projections provided by the ISPs, the internet monitoring systems are upgraded and deployed continuously as per the requirement of security agencies.

India needs to upgrade its intelligence infrastructure that is in real mess. Intelligence agencies need to develop intelligence gathering and analysis skills so that situations like the present one can be taken care of. E-surveillance is not a substitute for cyber skills and Indian government and its agencies must realise this truth as soon as possible.

Even by forcing the telecom service providers and ISPs to filter internet traffic at large would not serve any purpose. Cyber criminals and terrorists are already well aware to use sophisticated technology to hide their tracks. This exercise would only violate the civil liberties of law abiding citizens.

Fortunately, Yahoo has dragged Indian government regarding e-surveillance to the Delhi High Court and a judicial scrutiny of e-surveillance in India may be possible. Time has come to consider all these aspects in detail and at the highest levels by the Indian government and parliament of India.

Yahoo Took Indian Government To Court Over E-Surveillance

E-surveillance in India has become a big nuisance for intermediaries like internet service providers (ISPs), e-commerce sites, search engines, e-mail providers, etc. The liability of Internet intermediaries for copyright violations is also well known that has further increased the troubles of intermediaries in India.

Intermediaries liability for cyber law due diligence in India has become very stringent after the information technology amendment act 2008 has been notified. Information technology act 2000 (IT Act 2000) now carries many e-surveillance, websites blocking and Internet censorship provisions.

The problem is that there are “no procedural safeguards” subject to which these wide and sweeping powers can be exercised. This is also the reason why these provisions are unconstitutional and illegal as they are violating the provisions of Indian constitution.

However, in the larger interests of their commercial activites in India, these intermediaries not only accepted the draconian amendments in the cyber law of India but they are also complying with the legal as well as illegal orders of Indian government and its agencies. However, this approach would be counter productive for them in the long run and they must come forward against such laws and draconian provisions.

Yahoo has taken a very significant step in this regard. Yahoo has approached the Delhi High Court against the Union home ministry's attempts to obtain information about nearly a dozen Yahoo IDs/IP addresses it suspects are used by Islamic terrorists and Maoists.

Yahoo has challenged the legality of the government's decision to penalise it by slapping it with a fine of Rs 11 lakh because Yahoo refused to share profile details of the users of these email ID's that are under the scanner of the agencies. Recently, the HC stayed the imposition of the fine, and sought a response from the Centre.

In its petition, Yahoo has raised questions on the right to privacy of a company that stores such sensitive data and to what extent authorities can coerce it to part with the information considered necessary to either track terror perpetrators or thwart future attacks. "The government cannot under the cloak of national security implications bypass legal procedures," the petitioner has argued, claiming the section and clauses invoked by the Union ministry to demand information from Yahoo doesn't empower the government to do so.

Yahoo has taken a bold step that even companies like Google have not been able to do so. The matter is pending before the Delhi high court that has a good chance to bring some order in the otherwise chaosed e-surveillance world of India. The issue of phone tapping and privacy violations in India is also pending before the Supreme Court of India.

The matter must also be looked from another angle. Human rights protections in cyberspace in India are not safeguarded at all. Even at the international level United Nations has not shown much interest in protecting civil liberties in cyberspace. The data privacy laws in India are also missing. In short, there is complete negation of human rights in cyberspace in the Indian context.

Yahoo’s case may bring to the knowledge of Indian courts this situation and we may expect some respect for the constitutional rights and freedoms that are seldom respected in India these days.

Data Privacy Laws In India

Privacy rights and data protection are essential for protecting civil liberties and commercial interests. We do not have a dedicated privacy law in India as well as data protection law in India. There is no second opinion that privacy laws in India and data protection law in India is needed.

Privacy rights and laws in India have been ignored for long. Privacy rights in India in the information era are seldom respected in India. Although right to privacy bill of India 2011 has been suggested many times in the year 2011 yet till now we do not have any conclusive draft in this regard that can be introduced in that parliament of India. In fact, we are still waiting for a public disclosure of final and conclusive proposed draft right to privacy bill 2011 of India that can be discussed in the parliament.

Fortunately, the issue of phone tapping and violation of privacy rights as a result of the same is pending before the Supreme Court of India. The unconstitutional phone tapping in India is wide prevalent and the Supreme Court of India must also address this issue.

The Supreme Court of India must expand privacy rights in India as that is the need of hour. Fortunately, the issue is already pending before it and there would not be much trouble in formulating a privacy framework for India.

However, the real solution can come from the parliament of India alone. The parliament of India must pass strong and effective privacy and data protection laws for India. Even there is a need to revisit the telephone tapping legal framework of India.

At the executive level, Indian government must formulate the national privacy policy of India that must address all these issues. Unfortunately, Indian government is deliberately avoiding these crucial issues on one pretext or other. In the larger interest of India and as a direct obligation under the constitution of India, executive, legislature and judiciary must protect the fundamental rights and civil liberties of Indian citizens.

Are Indian Satellites Safe From Cyber Attacks?

Cyber attacks and cyber espionage by one nation against another are very common these days. Though nations are attacking one another through cyber intrusions yet none of them come forward to accept the same. Whether we like it or not but cyber attacks and cyber espionage would continue to be used by various nations against each other.

This process is a part of traditional strategic information gathering by defence forces, intelligence agencies, etc. For instance, the systems and techniques capable of destroying an adversary’s satellites have been a major focus of arm race in outer space. With the active use of Internet, the same process has taken a shape of cyber espionage and cyber attacks.

Naturally, we must focus upon a robust and effective cyber security in India. For instance, Indian preventive and offensive capabilities against cyber warfare must be developed to ward off growing incidences of cyber espionage and cyber attacks against India.

Indian critical infrastructure if frequently targeted by cyber attacks. Malware like Stuxnet and Duqu are increasingly found in the computers managing the critical infrastructure of India. In fact some believe that Stuxnet was also responsible for the destruction of an Indian broadcasting satellite. Cyber security of Indian satellites is a natural choice in these circumstances.

The Indian government must deliberate upon cyber threats like cyber espionage and cyber warfare that are increasingly targeting strategic computers and facilities. With growing interest in cyber security, this may be achieved within few years in India.

Indian Legal Workforce Needs To Be Skill Driven

Practical training and skills are two of the most important attributes of a successful and highly paying career. These attributes are also the most commonly absent essentials of various educational courses. As a natural result, almost 75% of the educated masses are either unemployable or simply not suitable for the relevant jobs.

Even Indian companies are facing shortage of skilled workforce to manage their day to day functions. In the information technology field, there is an urgent need of cyber skilled workforce in India. Further, technical education and skill development in India need to be considered on a top priority basis.

As far as legal field is concerned, the situation is not very different. For instance, the legal research in India is not qualitative and plagiarism is rampant in Indian legal research community.

Although legal process outsourcing (LPO) in India is flourishing yet there are very few e-discovery related LPO and KPO firms in India. In future e-discovery related LPO and KPO services in India would increase considerably. However, the skilled workforce needed to execute such high end and domain specific work is missing.

PTLB online skills development initiative is trying to bridge all these gaps so that a skilled legal workforce can meet all the future employment related challenges in India. Interested stakeholders, students and professional from around the globe can enroll for these courses, training, education and skills development programs of PTLB.

National Cyber Security Policy of India Is Needed

Cyber security policy and strategy is an important aspect of national security. Till now we have no national security policy of India. There is no second opinion about the fact that national security policy of India is required and the sooner it is drafted and implemented the better it would be for India.

In fact, national security of India is affected by turf war that is putting the entire national security at risk. For instance, Indian nuclear facilities may not be cyber secure. Indian websites are occasionally defaced.

Crucial computers at strategic government departments and defense forces are frequently compromised. The servers of national informatics centre (NIC) of India were recently hacked. This puts the entire governmental web infrastructure at risk.

A sound national security policy must have many essential and important aspects incorporated into it. One such essential component is cyber security policy and strategy of India. Till now we have no implementable national cyber security policy of India.

India’s national cyber security policy must be suitable formulated and immediately implemented. Further, Indian counter terrorism capabilities needs rejuvenation to deal with traditional terrorism and cyber terrorism. Indian banks are also not very good at cyber security and they are not willing to upgrade their cyber security despite the mandatory recommendations by Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

At the international level efforts have been streamlined to strengthen cyber security and global cyber security cooperation. Recently NATO requested cyber security cooperation from India.

Even at the individual level countries are strengthening their offensive and defensive cyber capabilities. In United States, the DARPA is developing offensive and preventive cyber capabilities. Indian defense and security against cyber warfare must also be developed.

It is high time for India to develop cyber offensive and defensive capabilities so that it can manage cyber threats like cyber terrorism, cyber warfare, cyber espionage, etc in a timely and effective manner.

Indian Defense And Security Against Cyber Warfare

Of late, India is increasingly targeted for cyber espionage, cyber warfare, cyber terrorism and many similar cyber attacks. Indian response to the same remained lukewarm. Obviously the news of sophisticated Malware targeting Indian critical infrastructure is no big surprise.

For instance, some claim that Stuxnet Malware was responsible for the destruction of an Indian broadcasting satellite. Similarly the Duqu Malware used the command and control servers located in India. The latest being that the servers of National Informatics Centre (NIC) of India were compromised and used for launching cyber attacks upon other nations.

In this background India must analyse its cyber skills and capabilities. Is India ready for cyber warfare, cyber terrorism, cyber espionage, cyber attacks, etc? We have still not formulated any cyber warfare policy of India. In fact, cyber security in India is an ignored world. Even there is no cyberspace crisis management plan of India that is actually implemented at the national level.

At the legal framework level as well India is lagging far behind. We have no dedicated legal framework for cyber security in India. Even the cyber law of India needs many suitable amendments as it has become outdated.

These issues require political will to resolve and presently that seems to be missing. Although Kapil Sibal is doing a great job yet he seems to be overburdened with many responsibilities. This is resulted in sidelining of cyber law and cyber security issues.

Now Kapil Sibal has given positive hints about these issues, things may change in the near future. But till then Indian cyberspace is vulnerable to all sorts of cyber attacks.

India is not at all ready to tackle cyber warfare, cyber terrorism, cyber espionage, etc with the present framework of mind and cyber capabilities. Indian defense and security against cyber warfare is missing and the same needs to be strengthened as soon as possible.

Virtual Campuses Can Eliminate Corruption In Higher Education Of India

All of you must remember Jaspal Bhatti’s flop show and the episode pertaining to PhD. The episode explained how PhD researchers in India are exploited by their supervisors in cash and kind. That was a classical comedy that portrayed the corrupt higher educational system of India.

Years have passed but the bitter truth still prevails in India. Although HRD minister Kapil Sibal is doing great to improve and strengthen the dying educational system of India yet PhDs in India are still facing the menace of corruption.

Recently, e-mails were also sent to both Kapil Sibal and Salman Khurshid to bring to their notice the deteriorating conditions of higher legal education in India. The truth is that higher legal education in India needs urgent reforms.

Higher education in India is suffering from many deficiencies and irregularities. These include lack of practical training, academic nature of education, absence of skills development, corruption, lack of research capabilities, etc.

Universities and colleges are engaging in all sorts of undesirable behaviours and practices and this is affecting the higher education and research oriented courses like PhDs. Indian government is also not very much enthusiastic in curing these deficiencies and eliminating the irregularities.

The lack of transparency and prevalent corruption is eating up the higher education system of India and it can be cured if we allow foreign educational institutions to open their centers in India. This way not only the monopoly of Indian colleges and institutions can be eliminated but better and qualitative education can be made available to Indian students.

Further, this would also force the Indian educational institutions and colleges to focus and stress upon quality rather than upon corrupt practices and exploitation. We need more virtual campuses as well so that Indian students can have qualitative education through e-learning and distance learning method.

At Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) we are trying to bridge this qualitative gap in a corruption free environment through its Online Skills Development and Training platform. PTLB is managing the exclusive techno legal e-learning and virtual legal education campus of India and world wide. It also provides many other qualitative and highly specialised courses through its virtual campus that would remain a dream through traditional Indian educational institutions. We hope this initiative of ours would be beneficial for all the stakeholders.

Privacy Laws In India

We have no dedicated privacy laws in India and data protection laws in India. Naturally, this is a troublesome and undesirable situation. The supreme court of India has interpreted Article 21 as empowering Indian citizens with right to privacy in India.

However, despite this constitutional protection, various governmental projects in India are opening ignoring Article 21 and are clearly violating the same. This is happening because we have no national privacy policy in India.

Further, we have no privacy laws in India as well. Although some privacy guidelines have been issued by one or two departments of Indian government yet they are far from satisfactory and cannot replace a well structured privacy law of India.

Privacy rights in the information era require a totally different outlook. In fact, privacy rights form an essential part of civil liberties protection in cyberspace that India is presently ignoring.

For instance, consider the projects like Aadhar, National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID), Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS), National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Central Monitoring System (CMS), Centre for Communication Security Research and Monitoring (CCSRM), etc.

They must be supported by a techno legal framework and must be civil liberty complaint. Presently, none of them are governed by any Legal Framework and none of them are under Parliamentary Scrutiny. These projects are openly violating various human rights/civil liberties, including right to privacy.

It is high time to formulate privacy laws in India so that constitutional freedoms and rights are not considered to be just legal jargon we no actual implementation.

Cyber Warfare Policy Of India

Cyber Warfare is a concept that is not clear yet. Some believe that there is nothing like Cyber Warfare as there is no involvement of traditional military actions. Others believe that Cyber Warfare is a reality of the present time and future wars would be fought in Cyberspace. Whatever the opinion may be but it is clear that Nations have to protect their Critical ICT Infrastructures and Strategic Computers from growing Cyber Attacks.

Cyber Warfare and Cyber Terrorism are issues that cannot be taken lightly by any Country. From these threats emerge the necessity of having a robust Cyber Security for Defense Forces in India. These issues are important as they strike at the very root of the Critical ICT Infrastructure Protection in India. However, India is not doing the needful in this regard. Cyber War Capabilities should be an Integral Part of Indian National Defense and Security.

India needs a sophisticated and robust Technological Command Centre to defend its global network of computer systems. It must develop both offensive and defensive capabilities under one roof. Strategic information and tactical inputs are essential part of modern warfare that can be lost or gained through Cyber War methods. There is no doubt that India needs good Cyber War Capabilities to meet the growing threats of Cyber Warfare.

Malware are posing significant threat to India yet there is no attention towards Cyber Security in India. For instance, we need Express Legal Provisions and Specified Policies to deal with issues like Denial of Service (DOS), Distributed Denial of Services (DDOS), Bots, Botnets, Trojans, Backdoors, Viruses and Worms, Sniffers, SQL Injections, Buffer Overflows Exploits, etc. Till now India has done nothing in this crucial direction and we are still waiting for the Cyber Security Policy and Strategy of India. Obviously, we have no Cyber Warfare Policy of India as well. Even the Cyber Law of India is weak and ineffective and deserves to be repealed.

The biggest hurdle before curbing Cyber Warfare Threats at the International level is Lack of Harmonisation in this regard. Till now we have no “Internationally Acceptable Definition” of Cyber Warfare. Further, we have no Universally Acceptable Cyber Crimes Treaty as well. There is also no International Cyber Security Treaty. India is not a part of any International Treaty or Conventions regarding Cyber Crimes, Cyber Security, etc.

We cannot have a Cyber Terrorism Policy in India till we have a Cyber Crimes Policy in India, Cyber Security Policy in India other similar Policies. Indian Government must urgently work in this crucial direction as it is the most urgent need of the hour.

Cyber Warfare Against India

Cyber warfare is a concept that is still haunting the international community. The situation is so serious that north atlantic treaty organisation (NATO) has sought stronger cooperation with India to counter growing cyber threats.

Cyber warfare is still a murky area as different countries deal with cyber attacks and cyber warfare attacks differently. While countries like US are considering it as an act of aggression on the footing of war yet other countries are taking divergent views. However, all countries are willing to use every possible cyber capabilities as preventive and curative cyber methods.

Till United Nations (UN) steps in and enacts “universally acceptable” international cyber law treaty and international cyber security treaty, this problem would remain murky and difficult to resolve. Further, nothing can benefit more than an international cyber security cooperation that is urgently required.

The incidences of cyber attacks, cyber terrorism, cyber espionage, cyber warfare, etc are increasing against India. However, in the absence of India’s national cyber security policy, cyber security in India is a neglected field. We must urgently develop cyber warfare capabilities in India to thwart growing cyber attacks against India. Further, we must also formulate a cyber warfare policy in India that is presently missing.

Cyber warfare is also the reason why we need to ensure critical infrastructure protection in India and critical ICT infrastructure protection in India. In fact the growing cyber attacks are affecting Indian critical infrastructure. Thus, cyber security capabilities through techno legal cyber security trainings in India must be strengthened. We must stress upon cyber security skills development in India.

The situation is equivalent to a wake up call and Indian government must take urgent steps to strengthen Indian cyber security. The sooner it is adopted the better it would be for a safe and secure cyberspace of India.

Cyber Crimes Investigation Training In India

Modernisation of police force of India requires not only basic knowledge of information and communication technology (ICT) but also practical trainings in the areas like cyber law, cyber crimes investigation, cyber forensics, etc.

Cyber crimes investigation capabilities in India are not up to the standards. Law enforcement agencies of India need to develop good techno legal cyber skills to improve their investigative capabilities.

Police must also ensure cyber law skills development. Similarly, police in India also need to undertake cyber frauds detection trainings so that cyber frauds can be anticipated even before they are committed.

Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) is providing many techno legal courses and trainings for police force of India. These include cyber crime investigation trainings, cyber forensics trainings, cyber security trainings, cyber fraud detection trainings, etc.

Techno legal e-learning in India by PTLB also provides many more courses and trainings. These are basic level techno legal courses that have been specially customised to the requirements of Indian police.

With increasing cyber crimes, Indian police need to develop sufficient capabilities so that cyber crimes can be punished adequately in India. Presently, most of the police stations and police officers find it difficult to deal with cyber law and cyber crimes related cases.

We need a trained cyber police force in India. The present cyber crimes police cells of India are not competent enough to deal with growing cyber crimes in India. Law enforcement in India needs to have techno legal trainings to deal with these cyber crimes. Further, police also need to undergo courses in cyber crimes investigation in India so that they can sharpen their cyber skills.

With more and more stress upon modernisation of police force in India and developing their cyber capabilities, these issues of lack of cyber skills would be resolved very soon.

National Cyber Security Policy Of India

The recent cyber attacks upon India have proved once again that we need to pay more attention to cyber security in India. Cyber security in India is required not only to protect sensitive information stored in the computers of strategic Indian departments and ministries but also to safeguard the present and future critical infrastructure of India.

Not only critical infrastructure protection in India is needed but also critical ICT infrastructure protection in India (CIIP in India) is need of the hour. CIIP in India is an area that requires urgent attention of our policy makers. We must formulate a critical ICT infrastructure protection policy of India as soon as possible.

Similarly, cyberspace crisis management plan of India is also required to be formulated. We must formulate a national ICT crisis management plan of India. Further, Indian crisis management plan against cyber attacks and cyber terrorism must also be formulated.

All these, and many more, aspects must be made a part of the cyber security policy of India. A national cyber security policy of India must be formulated in this regard that is made implementable after a reasonable period. Issues like cyber warfare, cyber terrorism, cyber espionage, international cyber security cooperation, etc must be part of the same.

We need a clear and implementable cyber security strategy of India. The cyber security policy and strategy of India must be techno legal in nature that can take care of both technical and legal aspects of cyber security.

There is no second opinion that national security policy of India is required and cyber security is an essential and indispensable part of the same. The sooner we formulate and adopt the same the better it would be for the larger interests of India.

Cyber Attacks Are Affecting Indian Critical Infrastructure

These days information and communication technology (ICT) has become an indispensable part of our day to day life. Many critical infrastructures have now been connected with ICT in one form or another.

This is the reason why we need to ensure critical infrastructure protection in India and critical ICT infrastructure protection in India. We also need to strengthen the cyber security of India and the best way to do so is to formulate the national cyber security policy of India.

Cyber attacks and cyber threat are increasing against India. However, cyber security in India is not up to the mark and is ailing badly. There are many factors for the poor performance of Indian cyber security and lack of adequate expertise is one of them.

Whether it is strategic government department’s computers or critical infrastructure, all of them are under constant cyber attack risks. Take the example of the recent cyber security incidence that has affected the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) security systems.

Three months ago, a ‘technical snag’ had hit operations at the state-of-the-art T3 terminal at IGIA. It now turns out it was caused by a “malicious code” sent from a remote location to breach the security at the airport.

A hunt has been launched to nab the perpetrator with the CBI registering a case under the IT Act and IPC. Investigators say that the “malicious code” was in the form of “attack scripts”, which means a programme was written by an expert to exploit the system’s security weakness.

While the efforts of CBI is praiseworthy yet when it comes to timely and appropriate actions, CBI does not score well. For instance, the case of CBI’s website defacement has not been investigated in the manner it was required. Cyber crimes investigations in India need to be improved to make effective investigation and get desired results.

In the present case of IGIA as well the news of the cyber attack has come after three months and this has weakened the case to a great extent. We need timely detection and effective cyber crime investigation capabilities in India to deal with cyber attacks and cyber crimes. Indian government must conduct effective trainings and courses for cyber crimes investigations in India.

Coming to the present case, the check-in counters, transfers counters and boarding gates at the IGI are operated using the Common Use Passengers Processing System (CUPPS), maintained by Aeronautical Radio Incorporated (ARINC). The CUPPS operates on a common software-and-hardware platform that integrates all information such as an airline’s reservation system, the expected time of departure and the capacity at waiting lounges. The problem in CUPPS started at 2.30 am on June 29 due to which check-in counters of all airlines at T3 became non-operational.

“This forced the airlines to opt for manual check-in and as a result passengers had to wait. There are around 172 CUPPS counters and only a third were functioning online,” said an official. The investigation revealed that someone had hacked into the main server of the CUPPS and introduced a virus.

It took nearly 12 hours to restore the system. The CBI was also called in as officials suspected it was a security breach. “We found that there were serious security lapses,” said a CBI official.

The agency had also asked for details of records of CUPPS and staff handling the system. “Once we receive the details, it will be analysed to see if any official is involved. It appears that someone sitting at a remote location had operated the system. We have registered a case under the IT Act and other relevant section of the IPC,” added the CBI official.

Indian critical infrastructures are under strong cyber attacks and we need to take this seriously. In cyber crimes and cyber attacks cases taking months to investigate them means loosing the case. We have to develop real time cyber security capabilities in India to avoid such failures.