50% of cybercrime plaints originate in China, pockets of Cambodia and Myanmar

50% of cybercrime plaints originate in China, pockets of Cambodia and Myanmar

Subject: Science and Tech

Section: Awareness in IT

Context:

• Around 50% of cybercrime complaints received on the national cybercrime helpline every day have their origin in China and pockets of Cambodia and Myanmar.

Various Initiatives Regarding Cyber Security

• National Cyber Security Policy:
  • This policy aims to build a secure and resilient cyberspace for citizens, businesses, and the government.
  • It outlines various objectives and strategies to protect cyberspace information and infrastructure, build capabilities to prevent and respond to cyber attacks, and minimise damages through coordinated efforts of institutional structures, people, processes, and technology.
• Cyber Surakshit Bharat Initiative: 
  • This initiative was launched to raise awareness about cyber crimes and create safety measures for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and frontline IT staff across all government departments.
• Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C):
  • This centre was established to provide a framework and eco-system for law enforcement agencies to deal with cyber crimes in a comprehensive and coordinated manner. 
  • It has seven components, namely:National Cyber Crime Threat Analytics Unit,National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal,National Cyber Crime Training Centre,Cyber Crime Ecosystem Management Unit,National Cyber Crime Research and Innovation Centre,National Cyber Crime Forensic Laboratory Ecosystem,Platform for Joint Cyber Crime Investigation Team.
• Cyber Swachhta Kendra (Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre):
  • This centre was launched in 2017 to create a secure cyberspace by detecting botnet infections in India and notifying, enabling cleaning and securing systems of end users to prevent further infections.
• Computer Emergency Response Team – India (CERT-In):
  • It is an organisation of the MeitY which collects, analyses and disseminates information on cyber incidents, and also issues alerts on cybersecurity incidents.
• Critical information infrastructure (CII):
  • It is defined as a computer resource, the destruction of which, shall have debilitating impact on national security, economy, public health or safety.
  • The government has established the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) to protect the CII of various sectors, such as power, banking, telecom, transport, government, and strategic enterprises.
• Defence Cyber Agency (DCyA):
  • The DCyA is a tri-service command of the Indian Armed Forces that is responsible for handling cyber security threats. 
  • It has the capability to conduct cyber operations, such as hacking, surveillance, data recovery, encryption, and countermeasures, against various cyber threat actors.

IT searches, a form of extra-constitutional power

Important Highlights:

• The 2017 Supreme Court decision affirmed the fundamental right to privacy but hasn’t significantly impacted the interpretation of related statutes.
• Section 132 of the Income Tax Act grants broad powers to tax authorities, allowing searches without judicial warrants.
• Recent incidents, like a lawyer’s raid, raise concerns about the abuse of these powers and the lack of safeguards.
• It focuses on the unchecked power granted to tax authorities under Section 132 of the Income Tax Act, highlighting the need for proportionality and stricter judicial review in executive actions.

Major Issues:

• The persistence of a culture of judicial deference to executive authority in interpreting statutes.
• The broad and unchecked powers granted to tax authorities under Section 132 of the Income Tax Act.
• Lack of proportionality and strict judicial review in executive actions, risking potential abuse of power.