Cyber Laws For CxO
Be Aware... Be Empowered
May-June 2010
Editor
Naavi
www.naavi.org
Publisher
Ujvala Consultants Pvt Ltd
www.ujvala.com
Editor’s Note
Dear Readers,
Cyber Terrorism has been a term which is engaging our attention for quite some time. While terrorism on the physical space has been an inevitable part of our life, as we move some of our critical economic activities such as Banking, Investment and E-Governance on to the Cyber Space, the threats of Cyber Space being used to further the cause of terrorism looms large on the society.
After the terrible 26/11 attack in Mumbai, there was sudden realization that misuse of Cyber Space for terrorist objectives need to be tackled with an appropriate legislative response. This resulted in the then pending amendments to ITA 2000 being speeded up and passed by the Parliament in December 2008.
One of the key changes that were made to the legislation in the amendments (ITA 2008) was the introduction of section 66F which described an offence titled “Cyber Terrorism” and prescribed “Life Imprisonment” as the possible punishment.
We have completed more than an year after the definition of “Cyber Terrorism” was inserted into our statute and the Kasab trial has been successfully completed without the invoking of Section 66F (Which incidentally became effective only from October 27, 2009 and is relevant for future attacks of similar nature). It is time now to examine the Section 66F of ITA 2008 on how it has addressed the issue and how it impacts the Corporate sector in particular.
The first thought that occurs to the ordinary observer is “Whether Cyber Terrorism is different from Terrorism as we know today?”, “Is it meant to protect the Physical Space? Or Cyber Space?”, “If Cyber Terrorism is terrorism with Cyber Tools, is it not already covered under IPC or UAPA? (POTA)”, “Does Section 66F also cover Cyber Warfare?” etc.
An attempt is made here to throw up some discussion points which hopefully will provide a platform for analyzing the impact of Section 66F on Corporate and also indicate some remedial action that can be contemplated in an organization.
In addressing the Cyber Terrorism aspects under law, it is also necessary to address the dismantling of the support structure for Cyber Terrorism. In this context we need to discuss the growing tendency of Cyber Crimes that indicate a fund raising effort for terrorist activities. “Phishing” in India is being used extensively to generate such funds and a few Banks appear to be in the forefront of being a support base for a network of Phishing fraudsters who systematically execute phishing frauds. A few E-Commerce businesses such as Traveling agencies are also being systematically exploited by terrorists. Companies in such businesses therefore need to address this problem on a priority basis.
In finding a solution to the problem, this issue also focuses on mitigation of “Insider Threats” and approaches to mitigate them.
Na.Vijayashankar
June 14, 2010
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