HYDERABAD: To tell or not to tell? That’s the dilemma faced by many who has been hit by hackers or online fraudsters in Telangana. Why do so many people opt to stay quiet?
A lack of trust in police discourages the State’s citizens from registering FIRs, despite there being a marked increased in cyber attacks in the recent times, said Rajesh Kumar, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Counter Intelligence Cell, on Tuesday. He was speaking at the SCSC Cyber Security Conclave 4.0, which was attended by various other cybersecurity experts.
“Any cyber breach is a crime under the Information Technology Act. But are they getting reported? Hardly. There is a certain lack of trust among civilians,” Kumar said. People perhaps do not feel that their problem will get solved if they report it to the police, he added.
The DIG said that though India has the IT Act and other data safeguards in place, “it did not add up” to result in a foolproof security system. Speaking to Express on the sidelines of the event, Kumar said, “To prevent cyber attacks in the State, we should have our own Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT). As of now, we have a CERT in New Delhi. But we need one in the State as well.”
The need for CERTs was mentioned in the Telangana Cyber Security Policy 2016. “Although the Government of India has passed laws and set up agencies, the onus is on the individual States to take up initiatives, drive on-ground implementation and ensure that a safe cyber space is created in the local environment,” states Telangana’s cyber security policy.
“To get the State’s own CERT up and running is our next aim. For that, we need the help of various companies that operate in and out of Cyberabad,” Kumar said. He added that there was a need for cutting-edge technologies to promote a safe Telangana.
Alok Mittal, Inspector General, National Investigative Agency, claims that “the biggest challenge in cyber crime is differentiating the actions of the State from those of non-State entities.” He also called for a middle ground in the debate between privacy and security. “Extreme stances on either side needs to be shunned,” he opined.
Other speakers in the fourth edition of the SCSC Cyber Security Conclave included Israeli defence expert Buky Carmeli, Telangana State Technology Services MD GT Venkateshwara Rao and others. Adding to the DIG’s statement regarding the lack of trust among civilians, Venkateshwara Rao said that the current legal framework has not been successful in handling cyber threats because cyber attacks are “boundaryless”. “It takes a lot to decipher whether the attack has happened within the country or outside it. There is a need to modify our legal framework,” he opined.