Cyber Forensics In India-The National Consensus Building

Dear Readers.

We are in the process of building a “National Consensus” on the vital National Issues like enactment of a sound and safer cyber law in India, establishment and development of effective cyber forensics capabilities in India, giving attention towards cyber security in India, establishment of e-courts in India, etc. All of you are requested to send their views, comments, suggestions, etc to Mr. Praveen Dalal at perry4law@yahoo.com and pd37@rediffmail.com through e-mails. All the contributions would be duly acknowledged and every effort would be made to incorporate the same in the “Final Draft” that would be sent to the Government of India, Department of Information Technology, Department of Science and Technology, Prime Minister’s Office, President’s Office, etc. We respect privacy of our viewers and friends and will not divulge the e-mails and other details, including surnames, of our friends, unless expressly requested by them.

Cyber Forensics is an important field of criminal investigation. However, it requires a sound expertise to be practiced. In India we have very few Techno-Legal Experts like Mr. Praveen Dalal*who can provide cyber forensics services in an appropriate manner.

According to Mr. Praveen Dalal, the Leading Techno-Legal ICT, Cyber Law, Cyber Security and Cyber Forensics Specialist of India, “Computer Forensics or Cyber Forensics in India has started gaining importance out of the necessity to deal with modern cyber crimes. Though India has taken some steps in the direction of enacting Information and Communication Technology (ICT) related law in the form of Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act, 2000), yet by and large it failed to provide a sound and secure law in this crucial direction. The result is too obvious. India has to depend upon foreign experts and institutions/universities even for the task of tracing an offender sending an offensive e-mail”.

Mr. Praveen Dalal says “We have contacted the Prime Minister Office in this regard and drew his attention towards this problem as well as towards the recently launched “special initiative” of Perry4Law regarding Cyber Forensics. It is a single place resource that is strengthening the legal enablement of ICT systems in India on the one hand and providing cyber forensics training and expertise on the other hand. Perry4Law has always remained on the forefront and has been providing suggestions and recommendations to the Government of India in this crucial field so that India’s dependence upon foreign experts may be minimised”.

These bold words of Mr. Praveen Dalal forced the Government of India to think on the lines suggested by him. The Centre is now planning to amend the IT Act, 2000 by incorporating provisions to treat as evidence in a court of law, cyber forensics devices and tools used for cracking cyber crimes. It is clear that we have to go a long way before India can be self-sufficient in this crucial field. We need good initiatives and efforts to achieve that task. Even private initiatives must be taken to fill in the gap.

Let us hope that India will soon have its own indigenous cyber forensics capabilities and the appeal by Perry4Law would be heard and acted upon by the Government of India.

*About Mr. Praveen Dalal

Mr. Praveen Dalal is the Managing Partner of Perry4Law and heading its PTLB, PTLITC, and other Techno-Legal Divisions that are providing Cyber Law, Cyber Security and Cyber Forensics Assistances and Services. Perry4Law is the First and Exclusive Techno-Legal and ICT Law Firm in India and is in operation since 2002. It deals with legal issues associated with ICT and use of ICT for legal purposes. PTLB and PTLITC are few of the Techno-Legal ICT initiatives of Perry4Law and are in the process of upgradation and formalisation. Mr. Praveen Dalal’s specialisations include areas like Cyber Law, Cyber Security, Cyber Forensics, Digital Evidencing, Corporate ICT Compliances, etc.

THE PUBLIC OPINION

I am hereby posting the “consolidated reply” of our readers regarding the awareness drive of Mr. Praveen Dalal regarding cyber law and cyber forensics in India. I hope you will find them useful.

(A) Rajesh

GOOD NEWS. The government of India has accepted the recommendations and suggestions of Mr. Praveen Dalal, the Leading Techno-Legal ICT, Cyber Law, Cyber Security and Cyber Forensics Specialist of India.

Not only Centre for Development of Advances Computing (CDAC) has been brought on line of http://computerforensicsinindia.blogspot.com/ but also lot of clues have been taken from http://reclaiming-india.blogspot.com/ .

After persistent awareness drive by Mr. Dalal the Government finally decided to amend the IT Act, 2000 and allow use of cyber forensics evidence and tools in the courts in India.

Let us hope that a working group on cyber forensics under the chairmanship of Mr. Praveen Dalal would be the next step.

(B) Gunjan

Law enforcement and intelligence in India needs good training. However, providing merely academic coaching would not serve the purpose. They need Techno-Legal training from experts like Mr. Praveen Dalal.

Finally the Government has accepted the recommendations of Mr. Praveen Dalal. Hats off to Mr. Praveen Dalal for his awareness drive. He is undoubtedly the best in the industry. It is unfortunate for the government of India and industry players that they are not in a position to avail his expert services. He has recently come up with the first Indian cyber forensics trends-2008 that is eye opener. I hope the government will now wake up to the realities. This is available at http://computerforensicsinindia.blogspot.com/2008/08/cyber-forensics-trends-in-india-2008.html

Some recent interesting posts about him are:

(a) http://legalnewsandviews.blogspot.com/2008/08/wireless-networks-and-law-enforcement.html

(b) https://www.groundreport.com/Arts_and_Culture/Cyber-Forensics-in-India-Government-of-India-Must-

(C) Mohit

What would you do with hard disks if you lack cyber forensics capabilities? Law enforcement and intelligence in India needs good training. However, providing merely academic coaching would not serve the purpose. They need Techno-Legal training from experts like Mr. Praveen Dalal.

The cyber forensics trends in India-2008 are not very great. Kindly see http://computerforensicsinindia.blogspot.com/2008/08/cyber-forensics-trends-in-india-2008.html . For a general discussion on the topic, kindly see http://computerforensicsinindia.blogspot.com/2008/08/need-of-cyber-forensics-in-india.html.

(D) Rohit

I agree with Mr. Praveen Dalal. Further, according to Mr Praveen Dalal, the Leading Techno-Legal ICT, Cyber Law, Cyber Security and Cyber Forensics Specialist of India, “Computer Forensics or Cyber Forensics in India has started gaining importance out of the necessity to deal with modern cyber crimes. Though India has taken some steps in the direction of enacting Information and Communication Technology (ICT) related law in the form of Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act, 2000), yet by and large it failed to provide a sound and secure law in this crucial direction. The result is too obvious. India has to depend upon foreign experts and institutions/universities even for the task of tracing an offender sending an offensive e-mail”.

I hope the Government of India, Department/Ministry of Information Technology, Ministry/Department of Science and Technology, and Industry players like NASSCOM, FICCI, CII, etc would at least now think seriously of seeking the expert services of Mr. Praveen Dalal in the larger interest of India.

(E) Kunal

We are inviting big trouble by not keeping in mind the necessities of cyber security and cyber forensics in India. The ICT Trends in India-2006, ICT Trends in India-2007, Cyber Security Trends by PTLB-2007, etc are examples of faulty ICT/E-governance strategies and policies of India. Further, cyber forensics trends in India are also not conducive for the growth of legal enablement of ICT systems in India. Kindly see http://computerforensicsinindia.blogspot.com/2008/08/cyber-forensics-trends-in-india-2008.html in this regard. The net result is that law enforcement finds it difficult to deal with issues involving ICT. Kindly see http://legalnewsandviews.blogspot.com/2008/08/wireless-networks-and-law-enforcement.html for details.