Govt must declare computer systems as 'protected': Expert

The government must declare all computer systems as protected or at least bring them under the purview of 'protected system' so as to ensure stringent punishment to hackers, advocate and cyber law expert Pavan Duggal said today.
"On a normal day in India, more than 10,000 cyber attacks take place and most of them go unreported. The protected systems have the immunity of the law that if they are hacked, the punishment is ten-year jail term.
"All the systems must be declared protected," Duggal said at a seminar on Cyberlaw and Cyber security challenges for companies in the post-demonetisation era.

Protected systems are mentioned in section 70 of the Information Technology Act 2000 under which the government can declare any computer resource which directly or indirectly affects the facility of Critical Information Structure, to be a protected system.
Duggal warned the stakeholders and corporates to be more careful in the post-demonetisation era as India was moving towards a cashless economy.
"After demonetisation, the volume of online transactions has gone up. Companies must comply with Indian legislation, i.E. The IT Act or else they will face trouble," he added.
"Non-compliance with norms exposes companies to legal issues, both civil and criminal. These unpleasant consequences could be avoided by ensuring compliances with these evolving norms," Duggal said.

The conference ended with recommendations, including that while cyberlaw as a discipline was integral to today's corporate operations, stakeholders need to understand the nuances of cyber legal frameworks, the knowledge of which is currently very limited.