NEW DELHI: Inadequacy in Indian Cyber law and Cyber security provisions pose big challenges for all, especially corporate lawyers. These, say cyber-law experts, have to deal with cases on disputes in a nascent digital environment.
This inadequacy has become more critical post-demonetisation and the government’s current thrust on a cashless economy, including the latest directive to make available mobile banking services to all by March 31.
“Companies need to come up with out of the box thinking and creative legal approaches while dealing with Cyberlaw and challenges in cybersecurity laws post-demonetisation,” Pavan Duggal, Advocate, Supreme Court of India and expert on Cyberlaw told Express.
He also stressed the need for companies to comply with statutory provisions under Indian Cyberlaw, as also with new notifications from the Government of India when dealing with Cybersecurity breaches.
“Awareness in corporate management about digital cash is still in the learning phase. There is a need to correct the disconnect in digital compliance,” Rajesh Uppal, Executive Director, IT and CIO, Maruti Suzuki said.
Corporate lawyers are also concerned about the growing the need for companies to ensure due diligence while exercising their duties as stipulated under the law in a digitised environment, while dealing with ‘cashless money’.
“An increase in cyber threats, especially with insiders breaching cybersecurity, has reached a massive inflection point. On the issue of cybersecurity, managements are still in a reactive mode,” pointed out Harsh Marwah, Country Manager, Verizon Enterprise Solutions.
Anoop Bose, Legal Advisor to several top-shot corporates like TCS, agreed. “There is an intrinsic problem that lawyers and the judiciary face while dealing with corporate and financial matters in this new digital ecosystem.”
Legal experts also agree that a lot of work needs to be done on cyber law.
“The RBI requires inputs from industry to find out the latest challenges and trends, while the legal framework needs to catch up with reality,” says Kum Kum Budgujjar, Legal advisor, RBI. Corporate lawyers and industry experts observe that there is, currently, an absence of a nation-wide industry platform to represent the cumulative interest of intermediaries.
Meanwhile technology companies have become innovators and disruptors who are ushering in new technological developments. “At a recent conference, we urged the Government to give far more support and encouragement to intermediaries as innovators and technological disruptors, as these companies will further help the pace of adoption of cashless digital economy in India,” said Duggal.