Cyber Laws For CxO
Be Aware... Be Empowered
February 2010
Editor
Naavi
www.naavi.org
Publisher
Ujvala Consultants Pvt Ltd
www.ujvala.com
Contents
Editor’s Note
Dear Readers,
Digital Signatures were introduced in India through the Information Technology Act 2000 (ITA 2000) as the only method of authentication of electronic document which was legally recognized as equivalent to written signatures.
ITA 2008 has also introduced the concept of Electronic Signatures which could be any technology other than the PKI based system adopted as Digital Signature in ITA 2000.
Despite the advantages inherent in the system of digital signatures, its adoption has not been to the expected level. After the introduction of the mandatory use of digital signatures in MCA returns, there are more than 10 lakh digital certificate holders in India but they mostly restrict the use of the digital signature only for their MCA or Income Tax purposes.
Even the corporate sector which should have embraced the digital signatures for non repudiable electronic communication and digital contracts have not made use of digital signatures.
As a result, we have companies sending employment letters through undigitally signed e-mails, paving the way for employment related frauds. Non usage of digital signatures in Banking has paved the way for Phishing frauds and exposed the Indian Banking system to avoidable risks. Frauds in online broking and insurance are also attributable to some extent on non usage of digital signatures.
The US $ 4 million fraud by an employee of WIPRO who withdrew money from WIPRO Bank accounts by stealing password of an authorized person should be an eye opener to Companies for immediate adoption of digital signatures in all important communication with Bankers, vendors and employees, present and prospective.
The delay in adoption of digital signatures as a preferred way of secure communication on the net is largely due to the lack of proper education at all levels. To ensure better adoption of digital signatures, Government of India needs to invest heavily into out reach programs either directly or though other agencies. Simultaneously, IT companies need to introduce applications that are compatible for use with digital signatures so that more and more users see value in acquiring digital signature capability.
Wider adoption of digital signatures for authentication of electronic documents is expected to reduce the incidence of frauds and Cyber Crime.
Let’s hope 2010 will be an year in which Digital Signatures make a substantial progress in the country.
Na.Vijayashankar
February 21, 2010
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