The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Minister moots enforceable laws to check cyber criminals

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 25, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Minister moots enforceable laws to check cyber criminals

Special Correspondent

IT's importance to nation makes cyber security essential: Venkatapathy

MAKING A POINT: Union Minister of State for Law K. Venkatapathy (right), interacting with participants at a workshop on ``Digital Forensics'' in Chennai on Tuesday. (From left) Inspector-General of Police C. Sylendra Babu; Chairman, ISCCRF, Rama K. Subramaniam and Director, Cyber Security and IT Compliances, NASSCOM, Mumbai, N.K. Saravade. — Photo : M. Vedhan

CHENNAI: The future of a networked India demands a more proactive approach to devising enforceable laws that will deter even the most determined cyber criminals. For this, the Government, industry and the public should work together, Union Minister of State for Law K. Venkatapathy said on Tuesday.

Inaugurating a two-day workshop here on "Digital Forensics," jointly organised by the Indian Society of Criminology (ISC) and the Information Security and Cyber Crime Research Foundation (ISCCRF), he said ensuring cyber security was essential for India considering the potential of information technology to transform the country's economy. "Extending the rule of law into cyberspace is a critical step to create a trustworthy environment for people and businesses."

Nuanced approach

The Minister said a nuanced approach could exempt those who mistakenly accessed a protected computer or stumbled upon another person's data from severe punishment and others with mens rea (who involve in the criminal activity with full knowledge), more severely. Also, a distinction could be made between first time offenders and habitual offenders. The law should focus on combating serious forms of computer abuse that would result in significant economic harm or threaten the integrity of sensitive data.

He explained the differences between conventional crimes and cyber crimes: cyber crimes were often not clearly illegal in that what was considered offensive in one cultural ambience may be considered normal in others, and they could be committed in a jurisdiction without being physically present in it. This posed a great challenge to detection, investigation and prosecution of offenders. Mr. Venkatapathy stressed the need for a radically different approach to tackle the menace.

He said the fundamental challenges posed by cyber crimes required application of highly specialised forensic techniques. Also, judiciary and the law enforcing personnel should be empowered with the knowledge and use of cyber forensics and digital evidencing.

Volatile evidence

N.K.Saravade, Director, Cyber Security and IT Compliances, NASSCOM, Mumbai, said cyber crime was complex in nature. Evidence was volatile in nature: there was no direct evidence, and securing evidence was a technical job requiring expensive hardware; there was no standardisation of keeping logs and no templates for preserving evidence. The challenges included non-availability of infrastructure and financial crimes in electronic environments. He stressed the need for establishment of cyber forensic cells, a team approach and a more interactive investigation, and standardisation of tools.

As was done in Mumbai, NASSCOM proposed to conduct a mass awareness programme in Chennai on the preventive approach (in the next three months). The association had also started an information security portal.

Rama K. Subramaniam, Chairman, ISCCRF, said a digital evidence creation mechanism was necessary. A better understanding of cyber crimes was needed to tackle the challenges. R. Thilagaraj, chairman and S. Latha, secretary, ISC, were among those who spoke.

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