Why India Is Ignoring Cyber Security?

Cyber crimes and cyber attacks have become a prime cause of concern world over. Even India is facing serious cyber threats but India is not well prepared to deal with the same. Take the example of cyber security of power sector of India that is in doldrums.

Cyber security in India has not received the attention it required from Indian government.  Naturally there are many cyber security challenges in India that have still to be redressed by India. India is still struggling to deal with menaces of cyber terrorism, cyber espionage, cyber warfare, etc.

According to Praveen Dalal, leading techno legal expert of Asia and managing partner of ICT law firm Perry4Law, India should step up its efforts to strengthen cyber defence in tandem with traditional national security capabilities. Ensuring foolproof cyber security, he believes, is next to impossible. However, Dalal said that cyber attacks can be minimized, though. "India has remained indifferent towards cyber defence for long, which resulted in poor cyber security capabilities," he opined.

India also lacks effective cyber law and enforceable cyber security policy. For instance, we have a single provision to tackle cyber terrorism in India. This may not adequately protect India's sovereign interest given the global onslaught of cyber terrorist activities.

There is no doubt that India requires a dedicated law on cyber terrorism. Existing laws in India, even the Indian Penal Code and the IT Act 2000, are not sufficient for effectively regulating all the cyber crimes occurring in India.

India also needs good techno-legal cyber security for its defense forces. India must urgently formulate good cyber security policy and effective crisis management plan for cyber attacks and cyber terrorism. The issue must be taken at the national level and a national policy is needed in this regard.

It is high time for India to take care of these issues to prevent further troubles and problems.

Cyber Security Of Power Sector In India

Indian government is famous for its knee jerk reactions. It always tries to cure the problem rather than preventing it from happening. Even the cure part of India government is far from perfect. In short, Indian government is neither interested in preventive nor a curative situation.

One such area that has been ignored for more than a five years by Indian government pertains to cyber security that is still an ignored world. Surprisingly, Praveen Dalal, leading techno legal expert of Asia and managing partner of ICT law firm Perry4Law, warned about this situation in the year 2006/07 itself but it seems the Indian government is too slow to react.

Another related warning was given by Praveen Dalal regarding the lack of cyber security of power sector of India in the year 2011 but Indian government again failed to pick up the signal. It is only after a massive power blackout that Indian government has woken up to the dangers of cyber attacks against Indian power sector.

The truth is that cyber security of power energy and utilities in India is in really bad shape. Now even the enquiry into the July 30-31 grid collapse has affirmed the opinion of Praveen Dalal. The enquiry report has affirmed that Indian power systems could be vulnerable to severe cyber attacks on a scale that can have serious implications for national security and economy.

I am not sure whether even this would be successful in waking up Indian government to streamline its power sector cyber security systems in general and cyber security of India in particular.

Cyber security challenges for the smart grids in India are not easy to manage and India is clearly not equipped to do so at present. According to Praveen Dalal, Power Grids and Utilities Cyber Security in India and their Challenges are not easy to manage. They require a systematic, dedicated and security oriented approach on the part of Indian Government. In fact, Smart Meters are becoming headache for power companies world wide, informs Praveen Dalal. Naturally, Cyber Security Capabilities of India must be Strengthened opines Praveen Dalal.

Keeping this fact in mind, critical infrastructure protection in India in general and cyber security of automated power grids of India in particular must be ensured with latest technology and international best practices.

Cyber Warfare And India

India has been facing cyber warfare for long. In the absence of adequate cyber security in India, cyber attacks and cyber warfare are posing real danger to India. As on date, India is vulnerable to cyber warfare. As on date we have no cyber warfare policy of India. As on date we have no implementable cyber crisis management plan of India.

If we analyse the cyber security reflections the trend is really worrisome. The cyber law, cyber crimes and cyber security trends by Perry4Law and Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) have shown the loopholes of Indian cyber security capabilities.

In these circumstances, cyber warfare against India is going to increase further. We must anticipate the cyber warfare against India and its defenses. In order to achieve that, the cyber security capabilities of India must be strengthened.

According to Praveen Dalal, managing partner of Perry4Law and leading techno legal expert of India, Indian Defense and Security against Cyber Warfare must be strengthened so that Cyber Warfare attacks of highest level can be defended against. The Cyber Warfare Capabilities of India cannot be considered to be effective till it comprises of both Offensive and Defensive Capabilities, opines Praveen Dalal.

Even the prime Minister of India now acknowledged that India must be prepared to meet the challenges arising out of Internet and cyberspace. However, if this acknowledgement is just another speech for another occasion, we may not see any ground level action for another decade or more.

Defending against cyber warfare requires maturity and skills and lots of patience. If India thinks that it can produce cyber warfare experts at the eleventh hour that would be a big blunder. India has to give attention to this aspect right now and then only it may be able to acquire necessary expertise in this regard after some years. I hope good sense would prevail upon Indian government very soon lest it is too late to react.

Legal Fraternity Of India Is Getting Serious But Legal Education Is Getting Worst

Legal fraternity of India has become more active and vocal in the recent past. Whether it is a protest strike against the proposed higher education bill of HRD ministry or protest against allowing foreign law firms and legal process outsourcing (LPO) companies in India, legal fraternity has taken them with an iron hand.

The main stress seems to be that legal practices, in any form whatsoever, must remain within the realm of advocates enrolled under the Advocates Act, 1961 alone. With the interim order of the Supreme Court if India, legal practice in India, both litigation and non litigation, has now become an exclusive professional area for Indian advocates alone.

These concerns of Indian legal fraternity are well justified and legally sustainable. However, legal fraternity of India must also take care of the growing decline of standards pertaining to legal education on the one hand and legal practice on the other. For instance, PhDs in the law are dying slowly and Bar Council of India (BCI) is doing nothing in this regard. 

Praveen Dalal, a Supreme Court Advocate and managing partner of Perry4Law, even sent e-mails to Kapil Sibal and Salman Khurshid drawing their attentions to the growing corruption in higher legal educations in general and PhDs in particular. However, neither Sibal nor Khurshid has time to look at the deteriorating standards of Indian legal education.

In these circumstances, opposing the higher education bill proposed by the HRD ministry is absolutely justified and legal fraternity must take a more active and direct control over legal education in India. 

Even the legal fraternity of India must make its own house in order. The Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa has taken a significant step in this direction. Preparation of conveyance documents is the duty of advocates and not touts and agents. However, many advocates adopt the practice of getting the same drafted through touts or agents due to their busy schedule and low fees offered in a particular case.

Now the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa has declared that such practice is illegal and it should be stopped with immediate effect. The council will request the state government to curb this practice and authorise only lawyers to formally draw up conveyance documents. Such badly drafted court documents are frequently challenged in the courts for various reasons.

These types of initiatives are essential to ensure good legal standards and accountability of advocates in India. There are still many areas to cover that Bar Council of India must immediately start covering.

Foreign Law Firms, LPOs And Chartered Accountant Firms Cannot Practice Law In India Anymore

The issue of legal practice by foreign law firms, lawyers, legal process outsourcing (LPO) providers and others like chartered accountants is a bone of contention between Indian legal fraternity and these persons.

It seems the matter is on the verge of being decided by the highest court of India. In a recent interim order by the Supreme Court of India, the court held that till the matter is finally decided by it, the Reserve Bank of India shall not grant any permission to the foreign law firms to open liaison offices in India under Section 29 of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 ( now FEMA 1999).

The Supreme Court of India also clarified that the expression "to practice the profession of law" under Section 29 of the Advocates Act, 1961 covers the persons practicing litigious matters as well as non-litigious matters other than contemplated in para 63(ii) of the impugned order and, therefore, to practice in non-litigious matters in India the foreign law firms, by whatever name called or described, shall be bound to follow the provisions contained in the Advocates Act, 1961.

This means that foreign law firms and LPOs cannot practice either litigation or non litigation related issues in India anymore. This also means that Indian LPO service providers like Perry4Law would witness an enhanced role in the LPO segment of India.

Of course, the foreign law firms or foreign lawyers can visit India for a temporary period on a “fly in and fly out” basis, for the purpose of giving legal advice to their clients in India regarding foreign law or their own system of law and on diverse international legal issues. However, foreign LPO or an LPO having non legal personals have to close their shops in India immediately.

This also means that chartered accountants (CA), companies secretaries (CS), etc who are in full time practice cannot engage in either litigation or non litigation related activities in India. If they engage in such activities that would clearly be illegal.

All companies, individuals, etc, whether Indian or foreign, who engage the services of such persons  would be doing the same at their own risks as such services would not be recognised by Indian law. This should be avoided till the matter is conclusively resolved by the apex court of India.

The matter would be again reheard after a gap of 10 weeks and let us see how the developments would take shape from here onwards.

Cloud Computing Policy Of India

There are certain areas where India is definitely not ready. For instance, India is not yet ready for cloud computing.  Many have openly expressed their concerns that India must not use cloud computing till proper policy and legal framework is at place. Being a profitable segment many cloud computing service providers in India are lobbying hard to get the same used at governmental platforms and for governmental services.

Indian government also seems to be in a hurry to use cloud computing for public delivery of services without analysing its pros and cons. For instance, India has no dedicated privacy laws, data protection laws and data security laws. Even leading techno legal expert of India and managing partner of ICT law firm Perry4Law Praveen Dalal believes that India should not use Software as a Service (SaaS) and cloud computing for crucial governmental services in the present circumstance and without any policy and legal framework.

India is opposing the concept of human rights in cyberspace. While on the one hand India is maintaining that it is not against civil liberties in cyberspace like speech and expression yet on the other hand India has opposed the United Nation’s resolution

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) this week officially declared free expression on the Internet a basic human right. India opposed this resolution clearly and it indicates its intentions to curb online rights of its netizens.

India has been pushing e-surveillance projects like Aadhar/UID project, national intelligence grid (Natgrid), crime and criminals tracking and networks systems (CCTNS), central monitoring system (CMS), etc that also without any judicial scrutiny and parliamentary oversight.

In these circumstances, use of cloud computing in India is a landmine for privacy violations and civil liberty violations. Indian government is imposing various projects without any legal framework and civil liberty safeguards. Any person or institution can take the sensitive and personal data of others and can use it for commercial purposes.

If Indian government wishes to use cloud computing in India, the same must be supported by adequate civil liberty protections and safeguards, suggests Praveen Dalal. Without these essentials, use of cloud computing is nothing more but a method of e-surveillance alone.

Cyber Forensics In India Needs Rejuvenation

Cyber forensics has become an indispensable part of legal systems world wide. Naturally, countries across the world are trying to develop cyber forensics capabilities. Cyber forensics in India, on the other hand, is not in a good shape. In fact, cyber forensics and Indian approach in this regard are not conducive for the long term growth and development of cyber forensics in India.

According to Praveen Dalal, managing partner of ICT law firm Perry4Law and leading techno legal specialist of Asia, Cyber Forensics has not found favour with the Executive, Judiciary, Legislature and the Administrative Branches of India. We have no dedicated Cyber Forensics Laws in India. Even the Information Technology Act 2000 (IT Act 2000), which is the Cyber Law of India, is not covering Cyber Forensics. A going reference of Cyber Forensics may be found in the IT Act 2000 but that is nothing more than a reference with no actual “Utility” as on date.

Thus, in India cyber forensics is not growing because of factors like lack of awareness, lack of political will, fear of unknown, apathy to the technology, etc. Our lawmakers are not aware of technological issues and our executive is least bothered. Naturally cyber forensics cannot grow in such an environment.

Agrees Andre Muscat, Director, Strategic Relationships at GFI Software Ltd. There is an under investment in laws, systems and platforms to enhance cyber forensics in various countries. It seems that there are countries who under invest in this area, and others who are on the front of investing and growing but with a problem in understanding how to actually invest in, opines Andre Muscat. There are so many tools and solutions which can help this situation and we frequently find that these tools are just not known to exist, says Andre Muscat.

It is high time that Indian government must ensure cyber forensics skills development in India. PTLB is managing the exclusive online cyber forensics training centre of India. PTLB is also providing online cyber forensics courses in India. More such initiatives must be undertaken in India to bridge the cyber forensics skills gap that is existing in India.