Naavi.org

Commemorating of October 17 every year as the day on which Indian Digital Society was born since the legal recognition of electronic document was first provided in India through ITA 2000 which was notified on October 17, 2000, has been a practice of Naavi for last two decades.

Last year we had a great virtual event under FDPPI banner. This year we had Manipal Law School (MLS) also join in the activity. I was doubly happy since even KLE Society with which I had conducted many such events in the past also was present on the occasion,.

The event was titled as “Jago Regulators Jago” recognizing that the “Awareness” programs which we are conducting for several years now to say that “Public need to be aware of Cyber Risks”, need to be elevated to an awareness of the regulators.

By regulators in the context of Cyber Crimes, we include Police, the Adjudicators under ITA 2000, the MeitY, MHA and the CERT IN.

The event saw the participation of Dr Triveni Singh along with a battery of professionals from industry, academia. Several advocates also participated in the half day conference held at MLS campus, Yelahanka, Bengaluru and also webcast in real time. Mr Balu Swaminathan, President of Cyber Society of India, Chennai who was associated with Naavi on several Cyber Crime investigations in Chennai was a special guest on the occasion. Dr Gulshan Rai could not join due to urgent alternate commitments.

Some very good suggestions have come forth during the event which will be added to this first report of the event.

The video of the event is available below.

Some of the photographs marking the attention are here

Naavi

According to this survey of Future Crime Research Foundation (FCRF), 80 % of Cyber Crimes in India happen through 10 districts such as Bharatpur, Mathura etc., which I call “Dark Villages of India”.

Over 77.41 % of the frauds are reported to be online financial frauds where money is siphoned off from innocent victims into residents of these dark villages.

This money lost in the cyber crimes is of the order of Rs 2,50,000 crores. This means that criminals in Bharatpur must be making around Rs 50000/- crores per year through Cyber Crimes and Banks in Bharatpur must be laundering money to that extent.

While these statistics raise the alarm, we also need to think. if 60% of Cyber Crimes in India happen in five places namely Bharatpur, Mathura, Nuh, Deogarh and Jamtara, can we not consider these as “Crime Districts”, take over these towns under Central Emergency Rule , deploy Special Police force, close down the operations of erring Banks and Mobile service providers in the area so that Rs 125000/- crores worth of Cyber Crimes can be brought under control?

Letting small police stations and a few constables to handle cyber crimes of this magnitude shows gross mis-management of the crime situation by the respective states and intervention of the Center is required. In a recent incident Police were chased away by villagers and criminals who had been taken into custody have been freed forcefully.

When Rs 125,000 crores per annum is supporting this Cyber Crime mafia, it is natural that it would have its influence on the Police and also the politics of the region. Unless some special efforts are taken, this menace will not come down. On the other hand this will increase and these criminals will become political leaders and start controlling the MHA in due course.

The time is to act now…..

In the past “Declaration of Emergency” has been only to protect the political regime. Border areas have seen special forces act being imposed because of threat of terrorism.

What we are seeing in these 10 districts is also “Terrorism”. It is not only Financial terrorism but includes drug trade and arms trade.

If people are today afraid of online transactions, it means that Section 66F offence is being committed by these criminals because they are “striking terror” in a section of people.

Hence there is a need to declare financial emergency in these districts and rush central forces, take over the district administration, kill the support system of money laundering in the form of local Banks and mobile operators.

Shall we expect Mr Amit Shah, the Home Minister to react?

Let us discuss these issues in today’s hybrid webinar-seminar conducted by FDPPI and Manipal Law School.

The webinar is between 2.00 pm to 5.30 pm and stalwarts like the Cyber Singham, Dr Triveni Singh and Cyber Security Veteran Dr Gulshan Rai are set to share their views along with academicians, advocates, Cyber Crime Prevention activists, Technology experts etc.

Join without fail and celebrate the Digital Society Day as Naavi.org remembers the 23rd anniversary of the notification of ITA 2000.

Naavi

Also Refer: Deepak Maheshwari’s article on the 420.in

On the 23rd Anniversary of the notification of ITA 2000 which ushered in an era of legally recognized Digital Society, Naavi.org, FDPPI, Manipal Law School are organizing a round table discussion on the theme “Jago Regulators Jago”.

Event will he held physically at Manipal Law School Campus in Yelahanka between 2.00 pm and 5.00 pm and will be available on Virtual Platform.

Prominent Speakers such as Dr Triveni, Dr Anantha Prabhu, Dr Sanjay Sahay along with industry and academia are participating in the discussions.

Those of you who want to participate either physically or virtually, may kindly register at :  https://forms.gle/89p5MTpQQ35bxsJC7 or write to fdppi4privacy

In the recent days India is seeing an alarming trend where like “Dark Web” we have “Dark Villages” like Bharatpur, Jamtara, Nuh etc developing in pockets of India where the entire community has been criminalized and Cyber Crime along with Drug Trading, Terrorism etc are taking firm root. Law and Order in these places are yielding to the criminals.

In this context we would like to awaken the Regulators to initiate immediate actions to control these Cribe Crime hubs and long term plans to prevent such developments.

We believe that Cyber Crimes cannot be controlled only by creating awareness amongst the public so that we can keep blaming the victims for their ignorance. Today’s technology is inherently deceptive and enable Criminals to use deep fakes and AI aided phishing which cannot be identified by ordinary citizens whom I call as Netizens and Mr Modi call as Digital Nagariks.

We have a commitment to therefore demand that the MeitY, MHA, the Adjudicators, the RBI, CERT In etc all contribute to the control of Cyber Crimes by making fundamental changes in the Cyber Crime management in the country.

Some of the strategies that need to be considered are

1. Creation of a National Cadre of Cyber Crime Police having nationwide jurisdiction so that criminals cannot sit in one State and attack the victims in other states with the shield of Jurisdictional hurdles.
2. Create “Absolute Liability” for intermediaries like Banks for frauds forcing them to have impeccable security and complete coverage through insurance so that Bank Customers pushed to digital banking are not made scapegoats for new technology
3. Completely ban the use of Crypto Currencies like Bitcoin so that criminals donot have their currency of cyber crime and terrorism
4. Educate and Equip Adjudicators under ITA 2000 to quickly provide summary judgements and relief to the victims
5. Ensure CERT In does not ignore reported Cyber Crimes and its duty to pull up negligent Intermediaries
6. Ensure RBI cancels licenses of Banks in the Crime hubs openly indulging in money laundering
7. Ensure that CRPF is deployed in such places where Cyber Criminals in collusion with the community elements challenge the local police.

Join the discussion and let us have your views.

Naavi

FDPPI has started a Certification Program for DPOs and Data Auditors in India which covers knowledge of Indian law, Global laws and a special training on audit of DPDPA 2023 based on the DGPSI framework.

There is no other comparable Certification programs for Data Protection professionals in India today.

You can complete Module I and G on virtual recorded mode and join the Module A which will be held as week end virtual batch on October 28th/29th/Nov 3/4 for 3 hours each between 2.30 pm and 5.30 pm.

Don’t miss to adorn your profile with a following kind of certificate and Badge

Visit www.fdppi.in and register today.

Naavi

FDPPI and Cyber Law College recently completed the first Certification program after DPDPA 2023.

Following are some of the responses from the senior professionals who attended the program.

“The course was practice centric and application oriented.”

“I felt the questions were set in such a way that how someone would approach situations practically.”

“Overall good experience.”

“Overall the questions were more relativistic and based on application and overall understanding of our concept”

“You made the exam tougher than IAPP 😄”

“The overall experience of the examination was great! The pattern and questions in itself were very practical in nature and helped us apply our learning’s . Very exciting and enticing format. At the end there a certain level of satisfaction for the time and effort invested by Fdppi and us as students.”