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Cyber Crime Related Assistance

July 31: It is heartening to note that several voluntary organizations are coming forward to assist victims of Cyber Crimes. Naavi has been maintaining Naavi.org and also the Cyber Crime Complaints and Resolution Assistance Center (www.ccc-rac.in) for a few years. In Hyderabad, an organization called crimestoppers has been in operation for some time. Now it is reported that a couple in Tirunelveli has started another Cyber Crime victim Counselling center in Tamil Nadu. Naavi.org wishes the venture success. Hope the public make use of such services. At the same time Police should work closely with such organizations and ensure that there is a collaborative effort in making public get adequate guidance and support from the law enforcement agencies.

SETS Back in the news

July 31: Dr Abdul Kalam's dream project on Information Security, SETS was virtually off the news radar for a few years. Now SETS is back in the news with an announcement of a project on Internet Security. R Chidambaram, the current head of Society for Electronic Transaction and Security (SETS), has announced that will develop technology to ward off hackers and the growing threat of cyber attacks on various utility networks including power and telecom. The private sector in India has made huge investments in SETS and the TN Government under Jayalalitha had generously offered free land to SETS but over the last few years the organization was totally out of public view. It was presumed that the society was attending to some projects of the Government particularly in the Defense sector. The current development indicates that SETS is back in action. This is a good development for the Information Security industry.

Do We Need Copyright Protection for Music?

July 28: The travails of the housewife who has been asked to pay damages of US $ 4.5 million for having downloaded 24 songs have been well captured in this article. A time has come for regulators to think if our copyright laws have crossed the limit of being reasonable and have we reached a stage where we need to re write the law drastically. May be the days of copyright on music downloads are limited. If downloading music is so dangerous, Courts should be asked to direct RIAA to stop using Internet completely for sale, advertisement or streaming of any music item. Such publicity and use of the media may only trap unguarded Netizens to liabilities.

CRAT gets new Premises

July 27: After a long wait, the CRAT has been allocated an office premises at Delhi. According to a report from Press Information bureau, the new Office and the Court Room of the Cyber Regulation Appellate Tribunal was inaugurated today by  Mr. Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Chief Justice of India. Press Release.

Where is ROI in Information Security?

July 24: Managers particularly in the recession hit economy are scratching their heads on how to take decisions on Information Security investments. In particular, top management wants documentary proof on the ROI on IS investments. In this context, the recent decision by the U.K. Financial Services Authority (FSA) imposing a fine on HSBC Life for 1.6 million pounds (US$2.6 million),  HSBC Actuaries  for 875,000 pounds (US$1.4 million) and HSBC Insurance Brokers for 700,000 pounds (US$1.1 million)--making a total of 3.1 million pounds (US$5.1 million) in penalties between them towards data breach incidents in the organizations. Similar developments have also occured in US under the HIPAA. More is likely to follow. These incidents of cost of non compliance of cyber law and cyber security obligations should open the eyes of the managers who are trying to find ROI on IS investments. Related Article on HSBC

Bringing Creators of Savitabhabhi to Justice

July 19: Now that the infamous website s*b*.com has been banned, many perverted supporters have sprouted to oppose the ban on the grounds of freedom of speech, women liberation etc. In order to finish the war which is half done, it is therefore necessary for the Government of India not to stop at the mere blocking of the website but continue with the logical steps of taking legal action against Mr Puneet Agarwal, the Indian owner of the site residing in UK. Related Article in TOI by Pritish Nandy. (Please read the comments to this article which are relevant in this context) : Also read: The War on Savitabhabhi.com needs to be continued

Multi Factor Authentication to be Mandatory for E Commerce

July 15: RBI has mandated that online credit card and debit card transactions need to adopt multi factor authentication from August 1st. The E commerce industry appear to be opposing the move. It is interesting to note that RBI has not been able to introduce the legally tenable digital signature authentication even in Banks and many phishing transactions are facilitated due to the lack of cyber law compliance. RBI has been a silent spectator to this continued intransigence of Banks. RBI has also been reluctant to admit the security risks inherent in Mobile Banking and allowed Banks to get into mobile banking without appropriate security measures. It is therefore surprising that now RBI is targeting the E- Commerce sites. The intention of RBI is however laudable but more consistent approach would perhaps increase the credibility of the organization. Related Article

Godrej CISS 2009

July 13: Avante's Godrej Corporate India Security Summit 2009 is a seminar in Mumbai being held on July 13th and 14th at Hotel Trident and  specifically focusing on corporate security. This conference  aims to discuss ideas and strategies to show how an individual needs to step forward to make sure our nations security is more “Proactive” than “Reactive". Naavi is scheduled to speak on the subject of "Role of Corporates in National Cyber Security".
For More details Visit here  :

July 14 : Update: Copy of Naavi's presentation:

Vulnerabilities in ATMs exposed

July 12: Security expert Barnaby Jack has been persuaded from making a public demonstration of the vulnerabilities of ATMs since the bugs are still not fixed. It was reported that ATMs have also been the focus of a number of security breach incidents in the past 12 months. In November 2008, thieves stole nearly $9 million from more than 130 cash machines in a matter of hours using fake payroll cards. The scheme, which took place in 49 cities worldwide, relied on hackers breaching the network of financial firm RBS WorldPay and reloading cards so that they could withdraw an average of $90,000 per account.

In the context of these reports, one needs to ask Reserve Bank of India if it has taken sufficient precautions to ensure the safety of Indian Banking Systems. The first and foremost requirement of RBI is to reiterate the principle of Banking law that  "Customer will  not be debited with any payment obtained through forgery however  good the forgery is and even if there has been a negligence (not amounting to fraudulent complicity) of the customer". Presently Banks are putting a 24 hour or more time limit for taking action against any reported ATM card loss and suggesting that the customer is responsible for transactions within this time. This is an absurd provision not backed by legal principles. Once the Banker comes to know that the customer has withdrawn the authority of the card to represent him in the ATM, the instruction becomes effective forthwith. It is also an established fact of law that until the Cash is handed over by the Bank's cashier across the counter and the payee lays his hands over it, the "payment" has not been completed and the drawer of a cheque has the right to effect stop payment.

Modern day Bankers are flouting the age old Banking practice and RBI has a role in establishing order.

A Copy of this posting would be sent to RBI for information, notice and action. Related Article in technologyreview.com

Also see: National Netizen’s Rights Commission Required in India

Naavi.org is India's premier portal on Cyber Law. It is not only an information portal containing information on several aspects concerning Information Technology Law in India but also represents the focal point of several services around Cyber Law carried on by Naavi.

The first such service is the Cyber Law College a virtual Cyber Law education center in India which provides various courses on Cyber Law.

The second key service is the Cyber Evidence Archival center which provides a key service to help administration of   justice in Cyber Crime cases.

The third key service is the domain name look-alikes dispute resolution service which provides a unique solution for websites with similar looking domain names to co exist.

The fourth key service is the online mediation and arbitration service another unique global service.

The fifth key service is the CyLawCom service which represents the Cyber Law Compliance related education, audit and implementation assistance service.

Additionally, Naavi.org is in the process of development of four sub organizations namely the Digital Society Foundation, Naavi.net, International Cyber Law Research Center and Cyber Crime Complaints and Resolution Assistance Center. Digital Society Foundation is a Trust formed with the objective of representing the voice of Netizens in various fora and work like an NGO to protect their interests. Naavi.net is meant to develop a collaborative distributed network of LPO consultants. International Cyber Law Research Center would support research in Cyber Laws and Cyber Crime Complaints and Resolution Assistance Center would try to provide some support to victims of Cyber Crimes.

Together, Naavi.org represents a "Cyber Law Vision" that goes beyond being a mere portal. Started in 1997, when the concept of Cyber Law was new across the globe, consistent efforts over the last decade has brought Naavi.org to the beginning of "Phase 2" in which the services are ready to reach out to a larger section. This is recognized as the phase of collaborations and growth by association. Naavi.org will therefore be entering into a series of associations to develop each dimension of its vision with an appropriate partner. Individuals, Organizations and Commercial houses which have synergistic relationship with the activities of Naavi.org are welcome to join hands in commercial and non commercial projects of Naavi.org.

Naavi

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