We are anonymous, we are legion

Seminar on "Hate Speech and Social Media"

praskrishna — 2014-02-13T06:22:41Z

NALSAR University of Law, in collaboration with the British Deputy High Commission organized a seminar on Hate Speech and Social Media in Hyderabad on January 4 and 5, 2014. Chinmayi Arun was one of the speakers at the seminar.

Richa Kaul Padte was a keynote speaker on the panel on ‘Marginalised Communities and the Experience of Social Media’, while Anja Kovacs was the keynote speaker on the panel on ‘Internet - A Democratic Space?’.

This seminar focused on emerging debates on free speech, marginalisation and radicalisation in the context of the internet. Long hailed as a great democratiser, the internet has been instrumental in granting a voice to millions of people, and yet, in permitting anonymity it raises important questions of liability and responsibility. Over the course of two days, the seminar explored issues through conversations between people who have worked on various aspects of this issue, including leading jurists, lawyers, bloggers and activists who have embraced new technologies. Some of the prominent speakers at the seminar included Hon’ble Justice Madan B Lokur, Hon’ble Dr. Justice S Muralidhar, Teesta Setalvad, Geeta Seshu, Chinmayi Arun, Anja Kovacs and Apar Gupta.

Click to read the details posted on Internet Democracy Project website.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/nalsar-seminar-hate-speech-social-media

Self-regulation in media and society meet to gain legal perspectives

praskrishna — 2011-04-02T01:22:15Z

With electronic media generally expressing its opposition to government imposed regulations, a two-day workshop is being organised here from tomorrow on 'Comparative Perspectives on Media Self-Regulation and Society'.

The workshop will explore international and comparative perspectives on media regulation as it affects current and the future role of information in society, Star India said in a statement.

The workshop will explore contemporary issues around media self-regulation in India from the differing perspectives of academics, bureaucrats and politicians, industry leaders, civil society and legal experts. In light of the current controversies in the media, including growing demands for content regulation on India's entertainment channels, as well as debates over media ethics, this will be a highly relevant and contemporary workshop.

The University of Oxford's Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy (PCMLP) in collaboration with the National Law University- New Delhi, the National University of Juridical Sciences- Kolkata, and the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, with support from Star India .

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni, Ministry Joint Secretary Arvind Kumar, and National Commission for Women member Secretary Zohra Chatterjee will be speaking at the workshop.

Among other expected speakers are ex-chief justice of India JS Verma who had drawn up a code for the electronic media on behalf of the News Broadcasters Association, academician Professor Satish Deshpande, former Central Board of Film Certification chairperson Anupam Kher, Centre for Internet and Society's Sunil Abraham, senior columnist Sevanti Ninan, BAG Films and Media CMD and President of the Association of Radio Operators of India (AROI) Anurradha Prasad, senior advocates Prashant Bhushanand Siddharth Luthra, TV Today Executive Director and CEO and IBF Vice President G Krishnan and NDTV CEO KVL Narayan Rao.

Leading international researchers and experts in media regulation, Professor Monroe E Price from the University of Pennsylvania, Jonathan Blake of Covington and Burling, and Professor Wolfgang Shulz from the Hans Bredow Institute will be a part of this Seminar.

Star India will be represented by COO Sanjay Gupta, EVP and General Counsel Deepak Jacob and EVP (Marketing and Communications) Anupam Vasudev.

The workshop is aimed at bringing together diverse views of academics, bureaucrats, policy makers, industry leaders, civil society and legal experts.

"In light of the current controversies in the media fraternity around the world, this workshop will deal with increased demands for content regulation on entertainment channels in India, as well as current debates on media ethics," the Star India release said.

Read the original news here

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/self-regulation

Security: Privacy, Transparency and Technology

sunil — 2015-09-15T10:53:52Z

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) has been involved in privacy and data protection research for the last five years. It has participated as a member of the Justice A.P. Shah Committee, which has influenced the draft Privacy Bill being authored by the Department of Personnel and Training. It has organised 11 multistakeholder roundtables across India over the last two years to discuss a shadow Privacy Bill drafted by CIS with the participation of privacy commissioners and data protection authorities from Europe and Canada.

The article was co-authored by Sunil Abraham, Elonnai Hickok and Tarun Krishnakumar. It was published by Observer Research Foundation, Digital Debates 2015: CyFy Journal Volume 2.

Our centre’s work on privacy was considered incomplete by some stakeholders because of a lack of focus in the area of cyber security and therefore we have initiated research on it from this year onwards. In this article, we have undertaken a preliminary examination of the theoretical relationships between the national security imperative and privacy, transparency and technology.

Security and Privacy

Daniel J. Solove has identified the tension between security and privacy as a false dichotomy: "Security and privacy often clash, but there need not be a zero-sum tradeoff." [1] Further unpacking this false dichotomy, Bruce Schneier says, "There is no security without privacy. And liberty requires both security and privacy." [2] Effectively, it could be said that privacy is a precondition for security, just as security is a precondition for privacy. A secure information system cannot be designed without guaranteeing the privacy of its authentication factors, and it is not possible to guarantee privacy of authentication factors without having confidence in the security of the system. Often policymakers talk about a balance between the privacy and security imperatives—in other words a zero-sum game. Balancing these imperatives is a foolhardy approach, as it simultaneously undermines both imperatives. Balancing privacy and security should instead be framed as an optimisation problem. Indeed, during a time when oversight mechanisms have failed even in so-called democratic states, the regulatory power of technology [3] should be seen as an increasingly key ingredient to the solution of that optimisation problem.

Data retention is required in most jurisdictions for law enforcement, intelligence and military purposes. Here are three examples of how security and privacy can be optimised when it comes to Internet Service Provider (ISP) or telecom operator logs:

Data Retention: We propose that the office of the Privacy Commissioner generate a cryptographic key pair for each internet user and give one key to the ISP / telecom operator. This key would be used to encrypt logs, thereby preventing unauthorised access. Once there is executive or judicial authorisation, the Privacy Commissioner could hand over the second key to the authorised agency. There could even be an emergency procedure and the keys could be automatically collected by concerned agencies from the Privacy Commissioner. This will need to be accompanied by a policy that criminalises the possession of unencrypted logs by ISP and telecom operators.
Privacy-Protective Surveillance: Ann Cavoukian and Khaled El Emam [4] have proposed combining intelligent agents, homomorphic encryption and probabilistic graphical models to provide “a positive-sum, ‘win–win’ alternative to current counter-terrorism surveillance systems.” They propose limiting collection of data to “significant” transactions or events that could be associated with terrorist-related activities, limiting analysis to wholly encrypted data, which then does not just result in “discovering more patterns and relationships without an understanding of their context” but rather “intelligent information—information selectively gathered and placed into an appropriate context to produce actual knowledge.” Since fully homomorphic encryption may be unfeasible in real-world systems, they have proposed use of partially homomorphic encryption. But experts such as Prof. John Mallery from MIT are also working on solutions based on fully homomorphic encryption.
Fishing Expedition Design: Madan Oberoi, Pramod Jagtap, Anupam Joshi, Tim Finin and Lalana Kagal have proposed a standard [5] that could be adopted by authorised agencies, telecom operators and ISPs. Instead of giving authorised agencies complete access to logs, they propose a format for database queries, which could be sent to the telecom operator or ISP by authorised agencies. The telecom operator or ISP would then process the query, and anonymise/obfuscate the result-set in an automated fashion based on applicable privacypolicies/regulation. Authorised agencies would then hone in on a subset of the result-set that they would like with personal identifiers intact; this smaller result set would then be shared with the authorised agencies.

An optimisation approach to resolving the false dichotomy between privacy and security will not allow for a total surveillance regime as pursued by the US administration. Total surveillance brings with it the ‘honey pot’ problem: If all the meta-data and payload data of citizens is being harvested and stored, then the data store will become a single point of failure and will become another target for attack. The next Snowden may not have honourable intentions and might decamp with this ‘honey pot’ itself, which would have disastrous consequences.

If total surveillance will completely undermine the national security imperative, what then should be the optimal level of surveillance in a population? The answer depends upon the existing security situation. If this is represented on a graph with security on the y-axis and the proportion of the population under surveillance on the x-axis, the benefits of surveillance could be represented by an inverted hockey-stick curve. To begin with, there would already be some degree of security. As a small subset of the population is brought under surveillance, security would increase till an optimum level is reached, after which, enhancing the number of people under surveillance would not result in any security pay-off. Instead, unnecessary surveillance would diminish security as it would introduce all sorts of new vulnerabilities. Depending on the existing security situation, the head of the hockey-stick curve might be bigger or smaller. To use a gastronomic analogy, optimal surveillance is like salt in cooking—necessary in small quantities but counter-productive even if slightly in excess.

In India the designers of surveillance projects have fortunately rejected the total surveillance paradigm. For example, the objective of the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) is to streamline and automate targeted surveillance; it is introducing technological safeguards that will allow express combinations of result-sets from 22 databases to be made available to 12 authorised agencies. This is not to say that the design of the NATGRID cannot be improved.

Security and Transparency

There are two views on security and transparency: One, security via obscurity as advocated by vendors of proprietary software, and two, security via transparency as advocated by free/open source software (FOSS) advocates and entrepreneurs. Over the last two decades, public and industry opinion has swung towards security via transparency. This is based on the Linus rule that “given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow.” But does this mean that transparency is a necessary and sufficient condition? Unfortunately not, and therefore it is not necessarily true that FOSS and open standards will be more secure than proprietary software and proprietary standards.

Optimal surveillance is like salt in cooking—necessary in small quantities but counter-productive even if slightly in excess.

The recent detection of the Heartbleed [6] security bug in Open SSL, [7] causing situations where more data can be read than should be allowed, and Snowden’s revelations about the compromise of some open cryptographic standards (which depend on elliptic curves), developed by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, are stark examples. [8]

At the same time, however, open standards and FOSS are crucial to maintaining the balance of power in information societies, as civil society and the general public are able to resist the powers of authoritarian governments and rogue corporations using cryptographic technology. These technologies allow for anonymous speech, pseudonymous speech, private communication, online anonymity and circumvention of surveillance and censorship. For the media, these technologies enable anonymity of sources and the protection of whistle-blowers—all phenomena that are critical to the functioning of a robust and open democratic society. But these very same technologies are also required by states and by the private sector for a variety of purposes—national security, e-commerce, e-banking, protection of all forms of intellectual property, and services that depend on confidentiality, such as legal or medical services.

In order words, all governments, with the exception of the US government, have common cause with civil society, media and the general public when it comes to increasing the security of open standards and FOSS. Unfortunately, this can be quite an expensive task because the re-securing of open cryptographic standards depends on mathematicians. Of late, mathematical research outputs that can be militarised are no longer available in the public domain because the biggest employers of mathematicians worldwide today are the US military and intelligence agencies. If other governments invest a few billion dollars through mechanisms like Knowledge Ecology International’s proposed World Trade Organization agreement on the supply of knowledge as a public good, we would be able to internationalise participation in standard-setting organisations and provide market incentives for greater scrutiny of cryptographic standards and patching of vulnerabilities of FOSS. This would go a long way in addressing the trust deficit that exists on the internet today.

Security and Technology

A techno-utopian understanding of security assumes that more technology, more recent technology and more complex technology will necessarily lead to better security outcomes.

This is because the security discourse is dominated by vendors with sales targets who do not present a balanced or accurate picture of the technologies that they are selling. This has resulted in state agencies and the general public having an exaggerated understanding of the capabilities of surveillance technologies that is more aligned with Hollywood movies than everyday reality.

More Technology

Increasing the number of x-ray machines or full-body scanners at airports by a factor of ten or hundred will make the airport less secure unless human oversight is similarly increased. Even with increased human oversight, all that has been accomplished is an increase in the potential locations that can be compromised. The process of hardening a server usually involves stopping non-essential services and removing non-essential software. This reduces the software that should be subject to audit, continuously monitored for vulnerabilities and patched as soon as possible. Audits, ongoing monitoring and patching all cost time and money and therefore, for governments with limited budgets, any additional unnecessary technology should be seen as a drain on the security budget. Like with the airport example, even when it comes to a single server on the internet, it is clear that, from a security perspective, more technology without a proper functionality and security justification is counter-productive. To reiterate, throwing increasingly more technology at a problem does not make things more secure; rather, it results in a proliferation of vulnerabilities.

Latest Technology

Reports that a number of state security agencies are contemplating returning to typewriters for sensitive communications in the wake of Snowden’s revelations makes it clear that some older technologies are harder to compromise in comparison to modern technology. [9] Between iris- and fingerprint-based biometric authentication, logically, it would be easier for a criminal to harvest images of irises or authentication factors in bulk fashion using a high resolution camera fitted with a zoom lens in a public location, in comparison to mass lifting of fingerprints.

Complex Technology

Fifteen years ago, Bruce Schneier said, "The worst enemy of security is complexity. This has been true since the beginning of computers, and it’s likely to be true for the foreseeable future." [10] This is because complexity increases fragility; every feature is also a potential source of vulnerabilities and failures. The simpler Indian electronic machines used until the 2014 elections are far more secure than the Diebold voting machines used in the 2004 US presidential elections. Similarly when it comes to authentication, a pin number is harder to beat without user-conscious cooperation in comparison to iris- or fingerprint-based biometric authentication.

In the following section of the paper we have identified five threat scenarios [11] relevant to India and identified solutions based on our theoretical framing above.

Threat Scenarios and Possible Solutions

Hacking the NIC Certifying Authority
One of the critical functions served by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) is as a Certifying Authority (CA). [12] In this capacity, the NIC issues digital certificates that authenticate web services and allow for the secure exchange of information online. [13] Operating systems and browsers maintain lists of trusted CA root certificates as a means of easily verifying authentic certificates. India’s Controller of Certifying Authority’s certificates issued are included in the Microsoft Root list and recognised by the majority of programmes running on Windows, including Internet Explorer and Chrome. [14] In 2014, the NIC CA’s infrastructure was compromised, and digital certificates were issued in NIC’s name without its knowledge. [15] Reports indicate that NIC did not "have an appropriate monitoring and tracking system in place to detect such intrusions immediately." [16] The implication is that websites could masquerade as another domain using the fake certificates. Personal data of users can be intercepted or accessed by third parties by the masquerading website. The breach also rendered web servers and websites of government bodies vulnerable to attack, and end users were no longer sure that data on these websites was accurate and had not been tampered with. [17] The NIC CA was forced to revoke all 250,000 SSL Server Certificates issued until that date [18] and is no longer issuing digital certificates for the time being. [19]Public key pinning is a means through which websites can specify which certifying authorities have issued certificates for that site. Public key pinning can prevent man-in-the-middle attacks due to fake digital certificates. [20] Certificate Transparency allows anyone to check whether a certificate has been properly issued, seeing as certifying authorities must publicly publish information about the digital certificates that they have issued. Though this approach does not prevent fake digital certificates from being issued, it can allow for quick detection of misuse. [21]

‘Logic Bomb’ against Airports
Passenger operations in New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport depend on a centralised operating system known as the Common User Passenger Processing System (CUPPS). The system integrates numerous critical functions such as the arrival and departure times of flights, and manages the reservation system and check-in schedules. [22] In 2011, a logic bomb attack was remotely launched against the system to introduce malicious code into the CUPPS software. The attack disabled the CUPPS operating system, forcing a number of check-in counters to shut down completely, while others reverted to manual check-in, resulting in over 50 delayed flights. Investigations revealed that the attack was launched by three disgruntled employees who had assisted in the installation of the CUPPS system at the New Delhi Airport. [23] Although in this case the impact of the attack was limited to flight delay, experts speculate that the attack was meant to take down the entire system. The disruption and damage resulting from the shutdown of an entire airport would be extensive.

Adoption of open hardware and FOSS is one strategy to avoid and mitigate the risk of such vulnerabilities. The use of devices that embrace the concept of open hardware and software specifications must be encouraged, as this helps the FOSS community to be vigilant in detecting and reporting design deviations and investigate into probable vulnerabilities.

Attack on Critical Infrastructure
The Nuclear Power Corporation of India encounters and prevents numerous cyber attacks every day. [24] The best known example of a successful nuclear plant hack is the Stuxnet worm that thwarted the operation of an Iranian nuclear enrichment complex and set back the country’s nuclear programme. [25]

The worm had the ability to spread over the network and would activate when a specific configuration of systems was encountered [26] and connected to one or more Siemens programmable logic controllers. [27] The worm was suspected to have been initially introduced through an infected USB drive into one of the controller computers by an insider, thus crossing the air gap. [28] The worm used information that it gathered to take control of normal industrial processes (to discreetly speed up centrifuges, in the present case), leaving the operators of the plant unaware that they were being attacked. This incident demonstrates how an attack vector introduced into the general internet can be used to target specific system configurations. When the target of a successful attack is a sector as critical and secured as a nuclear complex, the implications for a country’s security and infrastructure are potentially grave.

Security audits and other transparency measures to identify vulnerabilities are critical in sensitive sectors. Incentive schemes such as prizes, contracts and grants may be evolved for the private sector and academia to identify vulnerabilities in the infrastructure of critical resources to enable/promote security auditing of infrastructure.

Micro Level: Chip Attacks
Semiconductor devices are ubiquitous in electronic devices. The US, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea and China are the primary countries hosting manufacturing hubs of these devices. India currently does not produce semiconductors, and depends on imported chips. This dependence on foreign semiconductor technology can result in the import and use of compromised or fraudulent chips by critical sectors in India. For example, hardware Trojans, which may be used to access personal information and content on a device, may be inserted into the chip. Such breaches/transgressions can render equipment in critical sectors vulnerable to attack and threaten national security. [29]

Indigenous production of critical technologies and the development of manpower and infrastructure to support these activities are needed. The Government of India has taken a number of steps towards this. For example, in 2013, the Government of India approved the building of two Semiconductor Wafer Fabrication (FAB) manufacturing facilities [30] and as of January 2014, India was seeking to establish its first semiconductor characterisation lab in Bangalore. [31]

Macro Level: Telecom and Network Switches

The possibility of foreign equipment containing vulnerabilities and backdoors that are built into its software and hardware gives rise to concerns that India’s telecom and network infrastructure is vulnerable to being hacked and accessed by foreign governments (or non-state actors) through the use of spyware and malware that exploit such vulnerabilities. In 2013, some firms, including ZTE and Huawei, were barred by the Indian government from participating in a bid to supply technology for the development of its National Optic Network project due to security concerns. [32] Similar concerns have resulted in the Indian government holding back the conferment of ‘domestic manufacturer’ status on both these firms. [33]

Following reports that Chinese firms were responsible for transnational cyber attacks designed to steal confidential data from overseas targets, there have been moves to establish laboratories to test imported telecom equipment in India. [34] Despite these steps, in a February 2014 incident the state-owned telecommunication company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd’s network was hacked, allegedly by Huawei. [35]

Security practitioners and policymakers need to avoid the zero-sum framing prevalent in popular discourse regarding security VIS-A-VIS privacy, transparency and technology.

A successful hack of the telecom infrastructure could result in massive disruption in internet and telecommunications services. Large-scale surveillance and espionage by foreign actors would also become possible, placing, among others, both governmental secrets and individuals personal information at risk.

While India cannot afford to impose a general ban on the import of foreign telecommunications equipment, a number of steps can be taken to address the risk of inbuilt security vulnerabilities. Common International Criteria for security audits could be evolved by states to ensure compliance of products with international norms and practices. While India has already established common criteria evaluation centres, [36] the government monopoly over the testing function has resulted in only three products being tested so far. A Code Escrow Regime could be set up where manufacturers would be asked to deposit source code with the Government of India for security audits and verification. The source code could be compared with the shipped software to detect inbuilt vulnerabilities.

Conclusion

Cyber security cannot be enhanced without a proper understanding of the relationship between security and other national imperatives such as privacy, transparency and technology. This paper has provided an initial sketch of those relationships, but sustained theoretical and empirical research is required in India so that security practitioners and policymakers avoid the zero-sum framing prevalent in popular discourse and take on the hard task of solving the optimisation problem by shifting policy, market and technological levers simultaneously. These solutions must then be applied in multiple contexts or scenarios to determine how they should be customised to provide maximum security bang for the buck.

[1]. Daniel J. Solove, Chapter 1 in Nothing to Hide: The False Tradeoff between Privacy and Security (Yale University Press: 2011), http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1827982.

[2]. Bruce Schneier, “What our Top Spy doesn’t get: Security and Privacy aren’t Opposites,” Wired, January 24, 2008, http://archive.wired.com/politics/security commentary/security matters/2008/01/securitymatters_0124 and Bruce Schneier, “Security vs. Privacy,” Schneier on Security, January 29, 2008, https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/01/security_vs_pri.html.

[3]. There are four sources of power in internet governance: Market power exerted by private sector organisations; regulatory power exerted by states; technical power exerted by anyone who has access to certain categories of technology, such as cryptography; and finally, the power of public pressure sporadically mobilised by civil society. A technically sound encryption standard, if employed by an ordinary citizen, cannot be compromised using the power of the market or the regulatory power of states or public pressure by civil society. In that sense, technology can be used to regulate state and market behaviour.

[4]. Ann Cavoukian and Khaled El Emam, “Introducing Privacy-Protective Surveillance: Achieving Privacy and Effective Counter-Terrorism,” Information & Privacy Commisioner, September 2013, Ontario, Canada, http://www.privacybydesign.ca/content/uploads/2013/12/pps.pdf.

[5]. Madan Oberoi, Pramod Jagtap, Anupam Joshi, Tim Finin and Lalana Kagal, “Information Integration and Analysis: A Semantic Approach to Privacy”(presented at the third IEEE International Conference on Information Privacy, Security, Risk and Trust, Boston, USA, October 2011), ebiquity.umbc.edu/_file_directory_/papers/578.pdf.

[6]. Bruce Byfield, “Does Heartbleed disprove ‘Open Source is Safer’?,” Datamation, April 14, 2014, http://www.datamation.com/open-source/does-heartbleed-disprove-open-source-is-safer-1.html.

[7]. “Cybersecurity Program should be more transparent, protect privacy,” Centre for Democracy and Technology Insights, March 20, 2009, https://cdt.org/insight/cybersecurity-program-should-be-more-transparent-protect-privacy/#1.

[8]. “Cracked Credibility,” The Economist, September 14, 2013, http://www.economist.com/news/international/21586296-be-safe-internet-needs-reliable-encryption-standards-software-and.

[9]. Miriam Elder, “Russian guard service reverts to typewriters after NSA leaks,” The Guardian, July 11, 2013, www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/11/russia-reverts-paper-nsa-leaks and Philip Oltermann, “Germany ‘may revert to typewriters’ to counter hi-tech espionage,” The Guardian, July 15, 2014, www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/15/germany-typewriters-espionage-nsa-spying-surveillance.

[10]. Bruce Schneier, “A Plea for Simplicity,” Schneier on Security, November 19, 1999, https://www.schneier.com/essays/archives/1999/11/a_plea_for_simplicit.html.

[11]. With inputs from Pranesh Prakash of the Centre for Internet and Society and Sharathchandra Ramakrishnan of Srishti School of Art, Technology and Design.

[12]. “Frequently Asked Questions,” Controller of Certifying Authorities, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, http://cca.gov.in/cca/index.php?q=faq-page#n41.

[13]. National Informatics Centre Homepage, Government of India, http://www.nic.in/node/41.

[14]. Adam Langley, “Maintaining Digital Certificate Security,” Google Security Blog, July 8, 2014, http://googleonlinesecurity.blogspot.in/2014/07/maintaining-digital-certificate-security.html.

[15]. This is similar to the kind of attack carried out against DigiNotar, a Dutch certificate authority. See: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1246&context=jss.

[16]. R. Ramachandran, “Digital Disaster,” Frontline, August 22, 2014, http://www.frontline.in/the-nation/digital-disaster/article6275366.ece.

[17]. Ibid.

[18]. “NIC’s digital certification unit hacked,” Deccan Herald, July 16, 2014, http://www.deccanherald.com/content/420148/archives.php.

[19]. National Informatics Centre Certifying Authority Homepage, Government of India, http://nicca.nic.in//.

[20]. Mozilla Wiki, “Public Key Pinning,” https://wiki.mozilla.org/SecurityEngineering/Public_Key_Pinning.

[21]. “Certificate Transparency - The quick detection of fraudulent digital certificates,” Ascertia, August 11, 2014, http://www.ascertiaIndira.com/blogs/pki/2014/08/11/certificate-transparency-the-quick-detection-of-fraudulent-digital-certificates.

[22]. “Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL/VIDP) Terminal 3, India,” Airport Technology.com, http://www.airport-technology.com/projects/indira-gandhi-international-airport-terminal -3/.

[23]. “How techies used logic bomb to cripple Delhi Airport,” Rediff, November 21, 2011, http://www.rediff.com/news/report/how-techies-used-logic-bomb-to-cripple-delhi-airport/20111121 htm.

[24]. Manu Kaushik and Pierre Mario Fitter, “Beware of the bugs,” Business Today, February 17, 2013, http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/india-cyber-security-at-risk/1/191786.html.

[25]. “Stuxnet ‘hit’ Iran nuclear plants,” BBC, November 22, 2010, http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-11809827.

[26]. In this case, systems using Microsoft Windows and running Siemens Step7 software were targeted.

[27]. Jonathan Fildes, “Stuxnet worm ‘targeted high-value Iranian assets’,” BBC, September 23, 2010, http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-11388018.

[28]. Farhad Manjoo, “Don’t Stick it in: The dangers of USB drives,” Slate, October 5, 2010, http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2010/10/dont_stick_it_in.html.

[29]. Ibid.

[30]. “IBM invests in new $5bn chip fab in India, so is chip sale off?,” ElectronicsWeekly, February 14, 2014, http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/ibm-invests-new-5bn-chip-fab-india-chip-sale-2014-02/.

[31]. NT Balanarayan, “Cabinet Approves Creation of Two Semiconductor Fabrication Units,” Medianama, February 17, 2014, http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-02-04/news/47004737_1_indian-electronics-special-incentive-package-scheme-semiconductor-association.

[32]. Jamie Yap, “India bars foreign vendors from national broadband initiative,” ZD Net, January 21, 2013, http://www.zdnet.com/in/india-bars-foreign-vendors-from-national-broadband-initiative-7000010055/.

[33]. Kevin Kwang, “India holds back domestic-maker status for Huawei, ZTE,” ZD Net, February 6, 2013, http://www.zdnet.com/in/india-holds-back-domestic-maker-status-for-huawei-zte-70 00010887/. Also see “Huawei, ZTE await domestic-maker tag,” The Hindu, February 5, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/business/companies/huawei-zte-await-domesticmaker-tag/article4382888.ece.

[34]. Ellyne Phneah, “Huawei, ZTE under probe by Indian government,” ZD Net, May 10, 2013, http://www.zdnet.com/in/huawei-zte-under-probe-by-indian-government-7000015185/.

[35]. Devidutta Tripathy, “India investigates report of Huawei hacking state carrier network,” Reuters, February 6, 2014, http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/06/us-india-huawei-hacking-idUSBREA150QK20140206.

[36]. “Products Certified,” Common Criteria Portal of India, http://www.commoncriteria-india.gov.in/Pages/ProductsCertified.aspx.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/security-privacy-transparency-and-technology

Security, Governments, and Data: Technology and Policy

elonnai — 2014-12-24T08:06:59Z

The Centre for Internet & Society and the Observer Research Foundation invite you to a one day conference on January 8, 2015 in New Delhi.

About the Conference

The conference will focus on the technologies, policies, and practices around cyber security and surveillance. The conference will reach out to a number of key stakeholders including civil society, industry, government, and academia and explore the present scenario in India to reflect on ways forward.

Conference Context

Ensuring the security of the India’s cyber space is a complex, challenging, and ever changing responsibility that the government is tasked with. Doing so effectively requires a number of factors to come together in a harmonized strategy including: laws & policies, technical capabilities, markets, and a skilled workforce. It also requires collaboration on multiple levels including with foreign governments, domestic and foreign industry, and law enforcement. The first of these is particularly important given the ability of attackers to penetrate across borders and the global nature of data. Any strategy developed by India must be proactive and reactive – evolving defences to prevent a potential threat and applying tactics to respond to a real time threat. To do so, the government of India must legally have the powers to take action and must have the technical capability to do so. Yet, many of these powers and technical capabilities require a degree of intrusion into the lives of citizens and residents of India through means such as surveillance. Thus, such measures must be considered in light of principles of proportionality and necessity, and legal safeguards are needed to protect against the violation of privacy. Furthermore, a principle of optimization must be considered i.e, how much surveillance achieves the most amount of security and how can this security be achieved with the optimal mix of technology, policy and enforcement.

Panel Descriptions

Challenges & Present Scenario

Protecting and enhancing the cyber security of India is a complex and dynamic responsibility. The challenge of securing cyber space is magnified by the demarcated nature of the internet, the multiplicity of vulnerabilities that can be exploited at the national level, the magnitude of infrastructure damage possible from a cyber attack, and the complexity of application of a jurisdiction’s law to a space that is technologically borderless. A comprehensive ‘cyber security’ ecosystem is required to address such challenges – one that involves technology, skills, and capabilities – including surveillance capabilities. The Government of India has taken numerous steps to address and resolve such challenges. In July 2013, the National Cyber Security Policy was published for the purpose of creating an enabling framework for the protection of India’s cyber security. In February 2014, the 52^nd Standing Committee on Information Technology issued a report assessing the implementation of this policy – in which they found that a number of areas needed strengthening. The Government of India has also proposed the establishment of a number of centres focused on cyber security – such as the National Cyber Coordination Center and the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre. CERT-IN, under the Department of Electronics and Information Technology is presently the body responsible for overseeing and enforcing cyber security in India, while other bodies such as the Resource Centre for Cyber Forensic and TERM cells under the Department of Telecommunications play critical roles in overseeing and undertaking capabilities related to cyber security.

Law & Policy

India has five statutes regulating the collection and use of data for surveillance purposes. These laws define circumstances on which the government is justified in accessing and collecting real time and stored data as well as procedural safeguards they must adhere to when doing so. The Department of Telecommunications has also issued the Unified Access License which, among other things, mandates service providers to provide technical support to enable such collection. The Indian judicial system has also provided a number of Rulings that set standards for the access, collection, and use of data as well as defining limitations and safeguards that must be respected in doing so. The draft Privacy Bill 2011, released by the Department of Personnel and Training, also contained provisions addressing surveillance in the context of interception and the use of electronic video recording devices. In the Report of the Group of Experts on Privacy, the AP Shah Committee found that the legal regime for surveillance in India was not harmonized and lacked safeguards. Furthermore, in the era where the direct collection of large volumes of data is easily possible, there is a growing need to re-visit questions about the legitimate and proportionate collection and use (particularly as evidence) of such data. Questions are also arising about the applicability of standards and safeguards to the state. At a global level, catalyzed by the leaks by Edward Snowden, there has been a strong push for governments to review and structure their surveillance regimes to ensure that they are in line with international human rights standards.

Architecture & Technology

India is in the process of architecting a number of initiatives that seek to enable the collection and sharing of intelligence such as the CMS, NATGRID, and NETRA. At a regional level, the Ministry of Home Affairs is in the process of implementing ‘Mega Policing Cities’ which include the instalment of CCTV’s and centralized access to crime related information. Globally, law enforcement and governments are beginning to take advantage of the possibilities created by ‘Big Data’ and ‘open source’ policing. The architecture and technology behind any surveillance and cyber security initiative are key to its success. Intelligently and appropriately designed projects and technology can also minimize the possibility of intrusions into the private lives of citizens. Strong access controls, decentralized architecture, and targeted access are all principles that can be incorporated into the architecture and technology behind a project or initiative. At the same time, the technology or process around a project can serve as the ‘weakest link’ – as it is vulnerable to attacks and tampering. Such possibilities raise concerns about the use of foreign technology and dependencies on foreign governments and companies.

International and Domestic Markets

Globally, the security market is growing – with companies offering a range of services and products that facilitate surveillance and can be used towards enhancing cyber security. In India, the security market is also growing with studies predicting that it will reach $1.06 billion by 2015. Recognizing the potential threat posed by imported security and telecom equipment, India also develops its own technologies through the Centre for Development of Telematics –attached to the Department of Telecommunications, and the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing – attached to the Department of Electronics and Information Technology. At times India has also imposed bans on the import of technologies believed to be compromised. Towards this end, the Government of India has a number of bodies responsible for licensing, auditing, and certifying the use of security and telecommunication equipment. Though India has recognized the security vulnerabilities posed by these technologies, as of yet it has not formally recognized the human rights violations that are made possible. Indeed, though India has submitted a request to be a signing member of the Wassenaar agreement, they have yet to be accepted.

Agenda

11.00	Registration & Tea
11.30	Key Note Speech
12.00	Challenges & Present Scenario
13.00	Law & Policy
14.00	Lunch
15.00	Architecture & Technology
16.00	International & Domestic Markets
17.00	Tea
17.30	Conclusion & Closing Remarks

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/security-governments-data-technology-policy

Security, Governments and Data: Technology and Policy

elonnai — 2015-04-04T05:59:19Z

On January 8, 2015, the Centre for Internet and Society, in collaboration with the Observer research foundation, hosted the day long conference "Security, Governments, and Data: Technology and Policy" The conference discussed a range of topics including internet governance, surveillance, privacy, and cyber security.

The full report written and compiled by Lovisha Aggarwal and Nehaa Chaudhari and edited by Elonnai Hickok can be accessed here.

The conference was focused on the technologies, policies, and practices around cyber security and surveillance. The conference reached out to a number of key stakeholders including civil society, industry, law enforcement, government, and academia and explored the present scenario in India to reflect on ways forward. The conference was a part of CIS’s work around privacy and surveillance, supported by Privacy International.

Welcome Address

The welcome address opened with a reference to a document circulated by CIS in 2014 which contained hypothetical scenarios of potential threats to Indian cyber security. This document highlighted the complexity of cyber security and the challenges that governments face in defending their digital borders. When talking about cyber security it is important that certain principles are upheld and security is not pursued only for the sake of security. This approach allows for security to be designed and to support other rights such as the right of access, the right to freedom of expression, and the right to privacy. Indeed, the generation, use, and protection of communications data by the private sector and the government are a predominant theme across the globe today. This cannot be truer for India, as India hosts the third largest population on the internet in the world.

During the welcome, a brief introduction to the Centre for Internet and Society was given. It was noted that CIS is a 6.5 half year old organization that is comprised of lawyers, mathematicians, sociologists, and computer scientists and works across multiple focus areas including accessibility, internet governance, telecom, openness, and access to knowledge. CIS began researching privacy and surveillance in 2010, and has recently begun to expand their research into cyber security. The purpose of this is to understand the relationship between privacy, surveillance, and security and is the beginning of a learning process for CIS. In 2013 CIS undertook a process to attempt to evolve a legal regime to intelligently and adequately deal with privacy in India. Industry specific requirements are key in the Indian context and this process was meant to try and evolve a consensus on what a privacy law in India should look like by bringing together key stakeholders for roundtables. CIS is now in the final stages of preparing individual legal proposals that will be sent to the Government – to hopefully have an informed Privacy Law in India. This event represents CIS’s first attempt to have a simultaneous dialogue on surveillance, cyber security, and privacy. As part of this event and research CIS is trying to understand the technology and market involved in surveillance and cyber security as these are important factors in the development of policy and law.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/security-governments-datat-technology-and-policy

Security Research

vanya — 2016-01-03T09:55:27Z

The Centre Internet and Society, India has been researching privacy policy in India since the year 2010 with the following objectives.

Research on the issue of privacy in different sectors in India.
Monitoring projects, practices, and policies around those sectors.
Raising public awareness around the issue of privacy, in light of varied projects, industries, sectors and instances.

State surveillance in India has been carried out by Government agencies for many years. Recent projects include: NATGRID, CMS, NETRA, etc. which aim to overhaul the overall security and intelligence infrastructure in the country. The purpose of such initiatives has been to maintain national security and ensure interconnectivity and interoperability between departments and agencies. Concerns regarding the structure, regulatory frameworks (or lack thereof), and technologies used in these programmes and projects have attracted criticism.

Surveillance/Security Research -

1. Central Monitoring System -

The Central Monitoring System or CMS is a clandestine mass electronic surveillance data mining program installed by the Center for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), a part of the Indian government. It gives law enforcement agencies centralized access to India's telecommunications network and the ability to listen in on and record mobile, landline, satellite, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls along with private e-mails, SMS, MMS. It also gives them the ability to geo-locate individuals via cell phones in real time.

The Central Monitoring System: Some Questions to be Raised in Parliament http://bit.ly/1fln2vu

India´s ´Big Brother´: The Central Monitoring System (CMS) http://bit.ly/1kyyzKB

India's Central Monitoring System (CMS): Something to Worry About? http://bit.ly/1gsM4oQ

C-DoT's surveillance system making enemies on internet http://cis-india.org/news/dna-march-21-2014-krishna-bahirwani-c-dots-surveillance-system-making-enemies-on-internet

2. Surveillance Industry : Global And Domestic -

The surveillance industry is a multi-billion dollar economic sector that tracks individuals along with their actions such as e-mails and texts. With the cause for its existence being terrorism and the government's attempts to fight it, a network has been created that leaves no one with their privacy. All that an individual does in the digital world is suspect to surveillance. This included surveillance in the form of snooping where an individual's phone calls, text messages and e-mails are monitored or a more active kind where cameras, sensors and other devices are used to actively track the movements and actions of an individual. This information allows governments to bypass the privacy that an individual has in a manner that is considered unethical and incorrect. This information that is collected also in vulnerable to cyber-attacks that are serious risks to privacy and the individuals themselves. The following set of articles look into the ethics, risks, vulnerabilities and trade-offs of having a mass surveillance industry in place.

Surveillance Technologies http://bit.ly/14pxg74

New Standard Operating Procedures for Lawful Interception and Monitoring http://bit.ly/1mRRIo4

Video Surveillance and Its Impact on the Right to Privacy http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy/video-surveillance-privacy

More than a Hundred Global Groups Make a Principled Stand against Surveillance http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/more-than-hundred-global-groups-make-principled-stand-against-surveillance

Models for Surveillance and Interception of Communications Worldwide http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/models-for-surveillance-and-interception-of-communications-worldwide

Why 'Facebook' is More Dangerous than the Government Spying on You http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/why-facebook-is-more-dangerous-than-the-government-spying-on-you

The Difficult Balance of Transparent Surveillance http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-difficult-balance-of-transparent-surveillance

UK's Interception of Communications Commissioner - A Model of Accountability http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/uk-interception-of-communications-commissioner-a-model-of-accountability
Search and Seizure and the Right to Privacy in the Digital Age: A Comparison of US and India http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/search-and-seizure-and-right-to-privacy-in-digital-age
State Surveillance and Human Rights Camp: Summary http://bit.ly/ZZNm6M
India Subject to NSA Dragnet Surveillance! No Longer a Hypothesis - It is Now Officially Confirmed http://bit.ly/1eqtD8g
Spy Files 3: WikiLeaks Sheds More Light on the Global Surveillance Industry http://bit.ly/1d6EmjD
Surveillance Camp IV: Disproportionate State Surveillance - A Violation of Privacy http://bit.ly/1ilTJts
Hacking without borders: The future of artificial intelligence and surveillance http://bit.ly/1kWiwGv
Driving in the Surveillance Society: Cameras, RFID tags and Black Boxes http://bit.ly/1mr3KTH
Policy Brief: Oversight Mechanisms for Surveillance http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/policy-brief-oversight-mechanisms-for-surveillance

3. Judgements By the Indian Courts -

The surveillance industry in India has been brought before the court in different cases. The following articles look into the cause of action in these cases along with their impact on India and its citizens.

Anvar v. Basheer and the New (Old) Law of Electronic Evidence http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/anvar-v-basheer-new-old-law-of-electronic-evidence

The Gujarat High Court Judgement on the Snoopgate Issue http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/gujarat-high-court-judgment-on-snoopgate-issue

4. International Privacy Laws -

Due to the universality of the internet, many questions of accountability arise and jurisdiction becomes a problem. Therefore certain treaties, agreements and other international legal literature was created to answer these questions. The articles listed below look into the international legal framework which governs the internet.

Learning to Forget the ECJ's Decision on the Right to be Forgotten and its Implications http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/learning-to-forget-ecj-decision-on-the-right-to-be-forgotten-and-its-implications
Privacy and Security Can Co-exist http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy-and-security
European Union Draft Report Admonishes Mass Surveillance, Calls for Stricter Data Protection and Privacy Laws http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/european-union-draft-report-admonishes-mass-surveillance
Draft International Principles on Communications Surveillance and Human Rights http://bit.ly/XCsk9b

5. Indian Surveillance Framework -

The Indian government's mass surveillance systems are configured a little differently from the networks of many countries such as the USA and the UK. This is because of the vast difference in infrastructure both in existence and the required amount. In many ways, it is considered that the surveillance network in India is far worse than other countries. This is due to the present form of the legal system in existence. The articles below explore the system and its functioning including the various methods through which we are spied on. The ethics and vulnerabilities are also explored in these articles.

Paper-thin Safeguards and Mass Surveillance in India - http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/paper-thin-safeguards-and-mass-surveillance-in-india

The Surveillance Industry in India: At Least 76 Companies Aiding Our Watchers! - http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-surveillance-industry-in-india-at-least-76-companies-aiding-our-watchers

The Surveillance Industry in India - An Analysis of Indian Security Expos http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/surveillance-industry-in-india-analysis-of-indian-security-expos

GSMA Research Outputs: different legal and regulatory aspects of security and surveillance in India http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/gsma-research-outputs

Way to watch http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/indian-express-june-26-2013-chinmayi-arun-way-to-watch
Free Speech and Surveillance http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/free-speech-and-surveillance
Surveillance rises, privacy retreats http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-namrata-acharya-april-12-2015-surveillance-rises-privacy-retreats

Freedom from Monitoring: India Inc. should Push For Privacy Laws http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/forbesindia-article-august-21-2013-sunil-abraham-freedom-from-monitoring

Surat's Massive Surveillance Network Should Cause Concern, Not Celebration http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/surat-massive-surveillance-network-cause-of-concern-not-celebration

Vodafone Report Explains Government Access to Customer Data http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/vodafone-report-explains-govt-access-to-customer-data

A Review of the Functioning of the Cyber Appellate Tribunal and Adjudicator officers under the IT Act http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/review-of-functioning-of-cyber-appellate-tribunal-and-adjudicatory-officers-under-it-act

A Comparison of Indian Legislation to Draft International Principles on Surveillance of Communications http://bit.ly/U6T3xy

SEBI and Communication Surveillance: New Rules, New Responsibilities? http://bit.ly/1eqtD8g

Snooping Can Lead to Data Abuse http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/snooping-to-data-abuse

Big Brother is Watching You http://bit.ly/1arbxwm

Moving Towards a Surveillance State http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/moving-towards-surveillance-state
How Surveillance Works in India http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/nytimes-july-10-2013-pranesh-prakash-how-surveillance-works-in-india

Big Democracy, Big Surveillance: India's Surveillance State http://bit.ly/1nkg8Ho
Can India Trust Its Government on Privacy? http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/new-york-times-july-11-2013-can-india-trust-its-government-on-piracy
Indian surveillance laws & practices far worse than US http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/economic-times-june-13-2013-pranesh-prakash-indian-surveillance-laws-and-practices-far-worse-than-us
Security, Surveillance and Data Sharing Schemes and Bodies in India http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/security-surveillance-and-data-sharing.pdf/view
Policy Paper on Surveillance in India http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/policy-paper-on-surveillance-in-indiahttp://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/security-privacy-transparency-and-technology
The Constitutionality of Indian Surveillance Law: Public Emergency as a Condition Precedent for Intercepting Communications http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-constitutionality-of-indian-surveillance-law
Surveillance and the Indian Constitution - Part 1: Foundations http://bit.ly/1ntqsen

Surveillance and the Indian Constitution - Part 2: Gobind and the Compelling State Interest Test http://bit.ly/1dH3meL

Surveillance and the Indian Constitution - Part 3: The Public/Private Distinction and the Supreme Court's Wrong Turn http://bit.ly/1kBosnw

Mastering the Art of Keeping Indians Under Surveillance http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-wire-may-30-2015-bhairav-acharya-mastering-the-art-of-keeping-indians-under-surveillance

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/security-research

Security experts say need to secure Aadhaar ecosystem, warn about third party leaks

Admin — 2018-03-26T22:37:30Z

The public reckoning of data leaks in India’s national ID database, Aadhaar is still on hold while reports of data leakage through third-parties keep coming.

The article by Nilesh Christopher was published in Economic Times on March 26, 2018. Sunil Abraham was quoted.

While the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has maintained that its database is secure and there are no breaches of Aadhaar data from its system, security researchers warn that leaks are happening in third-party sites and it is important for the agency to ensure that its ecosystem adopts measures to keep data safe.

“Securing an entire ecosystem is more important than secure individual databases,” said security researcher Srinivas Kodali. Over the weekend, technology publication ZDnet citing an Indian security researcher said that it identified Aadhaar data leaks on a system run by a state-owned utility company Indane that allowed anyone to access sensitive information like a name, Aadhar number, bank details. The leak was plugged soon after the report appeared.

UIDAI came out with a strong statement denying the breach. “There is no truth in the story as there has been absolutely no breach of UIDAI’s Aadhaar database. Aadhaar remains safe and secure,” the government agency said.

There have been no reports of any breach in the core database so far. However, it is the third-parties that have acted as weak links.

“The simple parallel that can be drawn is, though Facebook’s core database of users information was secure, the data leak happened through third-party developers and organisation like Cambridge Analytica that have allegedly misused it,” Kodali said.

In case of Aadhar too, the allegations of breaches have not been on ‘Aadhaar database’ but rather at insecure government websites and third-parties with API access to the database. “In this aspect, the issue in Facebook and Aadhaar is similar. In both the cases there was no breach of database, but it was third parties that acted as the weakest link. In both cases, it was a legitimate means of access through API that was open for abuse,” said Sunil Abraham, executive director, Center for Internet and Society.

UIDAI could take a leaf from Indian Space Research Organisation while handling data breach reports. The state-run space agency put out a note appreciating security researches for their efforts. An email ID to report flaws is more important than summoning people regarding data breaches.

“The fear of criminal prosecution hanging over the heads of ethical hackers would not help us develop a robust and strong security architecture,” said Karan Saini, a Delhi-based security researcher who first highlighted the Aadhaar leak at Indane.

“UIDAI is working on a policy to enable security experts to report issues in a legal and safe manner,” tweeted Ajay Bhushan Pandey, chief executive of India's Unique Identification Authority (UIDAI), the government department that administers the Aadhaar database. Seven months after the tweet, Pandey’s promise of a bug-reporting mechanism has still has not fructified.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/economic-times-march-26-2018-nilesh-christopher-security-experts-say-need-to-secure-aadhaar-ecosystem-warn-about-third-party-leaks

Security and Surveillance: A public discussion on Optimizing Security while Safeguarding Human Rights

praskrishna — 2014-12-19T08:46:34Z

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) invites you to a public discussion on optimizing security and safeguarding human rights at its Bangalore office on Friday, December 19th, 2014, 16:00 to 18:00.

The Centre for Internet and Society, in collaboration with Privacy International UK, has undertaken exploratory research into surveillance, security, and the security market in India.

Through this research, we hope to understand and document policy and law associated with security, surveillance, and the security market in India and learn about the regulation of security and related technologies such as encryption, filtering, monitoring software, and interception equipment. We also hope to understand the import and export policy regime for dual use technologies.

Such findings will be critical in creating evidence based research to inform security policy and regulation in India and work towards enabling regulatory frameworks that optimize the nation’s security while protecting the rights of citizens.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/security-and-surveillance-optimizing-security-human-rights

Security and Surveillance – Optimizing Security while Safeguarding Human Rights

elonnai — 2015-02-13T02:41:46Z

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) on December 19, 2014 held a talk on “Security and Surveillance – Optimizing Security while Safeguarding Human Rights.

The talk focused on a project that is being undertaken by CIS in collaboration with Privacy International, UK. Initiated in 2014, the project seeks to study the regulatory side of surveillance and related technologies in the Indian context. The main objective of the project is to initiate dialogue on surveillance and security in India, government regulation, and the processes that go into the same. The talk saw enthusiastic participation from civil society members, policy advisors on technology, and engineering students.

During the event it was highlighted that requirements of judicial authorization, transparency and proportionality are currently lacking in the legal regime for surveillance in India and at the same time India has a strong system of ‘security’ that service providers must adhere to – which works towards enhancing cyber security in the country.

Discussions played out with regard to how most of the nine intelligence agencies that are authorized to intercept information in India are outside the ambit of parliamentary oversight, the RTI and the CAG, making them virtually unaccountable to the Indian public.

Another conversation focused on the sharing of information between various intelligence agencies within the country, and the fact that this area is virtually unregulated. The discussion then steered to cyber-security in general, emerging technologies used by the Government of India for surveillance, cooperative agreements for surveillance technologies that India has with other countries, the export and import of such technologies from India, and most importantly, the role of service providers in the surveillance debate, and the regulations they are subject to.

A common theme seemed to be emerging from the discussion was that the agencies responsible for regulating information interception and surveillance in the country are shockingly unaccountable to the Indian public. As an active civil society member noted today - “There is no oversight/monitoring of the agencies themselves, so there’s no way anyone would even know of how many instances of surveillance or unauthorized interception have actually occurred.”

The talk successfully concluded with inputs from members of the audience, and a broad consensus on the fact that the Government of India would have to adhere to stronger regulatory standards, harmonized surveillance standards, stronger export and import certification standards, etc., in order to make surveillance in India more transparent and accountable. As was stated at the talk, “We don’t have a problem with the concept of surveillance per se, - it has more to do with its problematic implementation”.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/security-and-surveillance-optimizing-security-while-safeguarding-human-rights

Securing the internet’s future

praskrishna — 2016-03-28T02:24:35Z

Mike Godwin, who proposed the eponymous law about online discussion threads, speaks about net neutrality, differential pricing and why no government is likely to oppose stricter surveillance measures.

The article by Bhavya Dore was published in Hindu Businessline on March 25, 2016.

For gravity, there’s Newton’s law, for internet discussion threads, there’s Godwin’s law. Twenty-five years ago, a law student trawling through cyberspace noticed a recurring pattern: at some point in an online discussion, someone would invariably invoke Hitler or the Nazis. The observation led to an act of ‘mimetic engineering’ — rifling through discussion boards, pointing this out, and promptly naming the law after him.

Godwin’s law states: As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one — that is, the likelier this becomes.

Mike Godwin, 59, a portly, white-haired gent in Harry Potter glasses is best known for this aphoristic piece of wisdom. “The purpose,” he says, “was to make the people who engaged in frivolous comparisons of atrocities seem like they weren’t thinking.”

It is generally understood that when one of the arguers is falling back on the Nazis as rhetorical shorthand, that person is starting to lose the argument.

“It certainly means one of the arguers has gone to a higher or lower level,” he said.

Godwin was in India in February as part of a series of talks organised through the Centre for Internet and Society on net neutrality.

In early February, at the Mumbai University’s civics and politics department, he was on a panel with three others at a discussion that occasionally took an agitated tone.

“[The debate] hasn’t become heated in every country to the same degree,” he said. “In India it has.” The public discussion has been polarised, with activists vehemently opposing, among other things, ‘Free Basics’ — a Facebook offering. On February 8, the telecom regulator ruled against differential pricing, debarring telecom operators from offering slices of the internet at different prices.

Godwin doesn’t see net neutrality and differential pricing as mutually exclusive. “I think some forms [of differential pricing] are potentially good and some forms are potentially bad,” he said. “And the regulator has to look closely and make a determination about the harms or benefits.”

Godwin has worked with the Wikimedia Foundation, which offered Wikipedia Zero for free in some countries through specific providers, as a gateway to Wikipedia. But he isn’t trying to convince you one way or the other.

“[There is] an idea that there was something valuable about carriers [service providers] being neutral,” he said. “And I still think that that’s true… But the thing that changed was this: with Wikipedia, I realised it doesn’t matter if you have neutrality if nobody can afford it. Neutrality hasn’t served the people who can’t afford to pay to have the wires built up to their provinces.”

This then boils down to the fundamental question: how do we create a world that gets people connected? “It may involve cross-subsidies of various sorts, and all of these things historically have invited some degree of government regulation,” said Godwin. “The question is less ‘do you regulate or not regulate’, the question is ‘do you do it right’.”

But does Free Basics mean anything to a developing country which needs real basics first: water, sanitation, shelter? Godwin doesn’t buy into the premise that the internet is a luxury that comes after all these things.

“I think that [idea] is wrong,” he said. “Because when people can share information or resources about where the water is or what good health practices are or how to properly cultivate a crop, they help everyone else. And the impulse to help and share what they know is strong.”

Godwin’s first law has now been well entrenched in popular culture. But wait, he has a second one. This one goes: Surveillance is the crack cocaine of governments.

“Almost all governments want to engage in surveillance,” he said. “Some governments have disagreements with other governments over their surveillance but rarely will we see them categorically refuse to surveil.”

And yet, he says, our outrage over this is driven by an “antiquated notion of privacy” that the content of our emails or conversations should be free from prying eyes. “In the rest of the century and future centuries people will look back at this idea and laugh: that people thought that content was the important thing,” he said. Someone reading your mail isn’t the only possible violation, but whether they are accessing the whole ecosystem of your communication. “The metadata can give away the whole store,” he said. “The metadata can be more revealing. Who are you talking to, at what time of day, for how long, how big is the message? These are all things that can matter.”

That’s not the only thing that’s changed. The internet has, since its early days, become a more charged, more violent place, where poison, bile and abuse fly thick and fast.

“The level of hatefulness directed towards women online is particularly bad,” he continued, “It is a huge cross-cultural problem.”

The other enduring problem is how do you balance free speech rights while curtailing hate speech? “If there were an easy answer I’d tell you what it is,” said Godwin.

Still, banning or blocking sites, as the Indian government has been in the past eager to do, is hardly a solution. “I won’t say there is never an argument for it,” said Godwin, pausing a beat, “I will say that I have never heard one that was any good.”

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-hindu-business-line-march-25-2016-bhavya-dore-securing-internets-future

Securing The Digital Payments Ecosystem

Admin — 2017-11-28T15:27:20Z

Udbhav Tiwari attended a consultation organized by NITI Aayog and Observer Research Foundation on October 9, 2017 in NITI Aayog office in New Delhi.

Since demonetisation, the Indian government has taken several steps to enable digital payments adoption across the country. With initiatives like the Digidhan Mission, setting a target of 25 billion digital transactions in 2017-18, the Modi government is setting high benchmarks which necessitate appropriate ecosystem support. Indeed, the Digidhan Mission’s ‘Objectives and Functions’, recognise that securing India’s digital payments landscape is critical.

In light of the exponential rise in e-commerce and digital payments, this imperative could not have come any sooner. India's digital transformation has not only highlighted the need for increased financial inclusion but also the emergent cyber security threats that it brings with it. This transformation, however, also represents an opportunity - not only to modernize India's laws and regulations to respond to global changes but also influence these changes and set a trajectory of growth for other emerging markets.

Keeping in mind these realities, NITI Aayog, in association with ORF, is preparing a cyber-security White Paper that will highlight best practices for the Integrity of Payments Systems and help enhance trust of the users in the payments ecosystem. The White Paper, through consultations with relevant stakeholders, will provide policy inputs to modernise standards for transaction security, hardware security and information security.

In this context a meeting was convened constituting experts and practitioners, who can help develop a comprehensive strategy to secure the digital payments ecosystem. The discussion was chaired by Dr. VK Saraswat, Hon’ble Member, NITI Aayog.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/securing-the-digital-payments-ecosystem

Securing e-Governance: Ensuring Data Protection and Privacy

praskrishna — 2012-06-15T04:10:57Z

Privacy India in partnership with the Centre for Internet & Society, International Development Research Centre, and Society in Action Group is organizing a discussion on E-Governance. It is based on the theme, ‘Security and Privacy Issues’, and will be held in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on June 16, 2012, from 9.30 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. Registration is free and open to the public.

India has witnessed a rapid proliferation of the use of information and communication technology in the delivery of government services. E-government is seen as an instrument to simultaneously increase the efficiency, transparency and accountability of public administration and improve public service delivery. Consequently, this has transformed the traditional delivery of public sector services, this is known as “e-governance”. These developments have implications and pose challenges for privacy and security.

The right to privacy in India has been a neglected area of study and engagement. Although sectoral legislation deals with privacy issues, India does not as yet have a horizontal legislation that deals comprehensively with privacy across all contexts. The absence of a minimum guarantee of privacy is felt most heavily by marginalized communities, including HIV patients, children, women, sexuality minorities, prisoners, etc. — people who most need to know that sensitive information is protected.

Since June 2010, Privacy India in collaboration with Privacy International, based in London, has been engaging in public awareness through workshops and consultations. These provide a platform for policy makers, sectoral experts, NGOs, and the public to discuss and deliberate different questions of privacy, its intersections and its implications with our everyday life. The discussions have ranged from topics of identity and privacy, to minority rights and privacy, and consumer privacy. The workshops have been organized in different cities — Bangalore, Guwahati, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Goa, etc.

Agenda

9.00 - 9.30	Registration
9.30 - 10.00	Welcome Prashant Iyengar is a practicing lawyer and lead researcher for Privacy India. He will present who Privacy India is, and the objectives of Privacy India's research. His presentation will focus on discussing privacy in India.
10.00 - 10.15	Tea Break
10.15 - 10.45	Session I People as the Most Vulnerable Link in e-Governance Dr. Nityesh Bhatt, Sr. Associate Professor and Chairperson in the information Management Area at Institute of Management, Nirma University, Ahmedabad
10.45 - 11.15	Ongoing e-Governance projects: Issue with security and privacy Professor Subhash Bhatnagar, Advisor - Center for Electronic Governance, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
11.15 - 11.25	Discussion
11.25 - 11.55	E-governance: What is it? Mr. Gopalkrishnan Devanathan (Kris Dev), Co-founder of the International Transparency and Accountability Network.
11.55 - 12.25	Security and privacy in e-governance with reference to the Gujarat Government Dr. Neeta Shah, Director (eGovernance), Gujarat Informatics, Ltd.
12.25 - 12.35	Discussion
12.35 - 1.20	Lunch Break
1.20 - 1.50	Session II Cyber Usages: Challenges and Dispute Resolution Utkarsh Jani, Advocate, Jani Advocates
1.50 - 2.20	Concern for privacy and security of the common man Dr. Mrinalini Shah, Professor of Operations Management at Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad
2.20 - 2.50	Security issues in e-Governance: A hacker's perspective Mr. Sunny Vaghela, Founder & CTO, TechDefence Private Limited
2.50 - 3.00	Discussion
3.00 - 3.30	Session III Securing the desktop through Virtualisation Anindya Kumar Banerjee, Regional Manager East, CG & MP at NComputing Inc
3.30 - 4.00	Opening up Data and privacy Ms. Nisha Thompson, Data Project Manager at Arghyam/India Water Portal
4.00 - 4.10	Discussion
4.10 - 4.25	Tea Break
4.25 - 5.00	Discussion and Questions

Confirmed Speakers

Dr. Nityesh Bhatt, Sr. Associate Professor and Chairperson in the Information Management Area at Institute of Management, Nirma University, Ahmedabad
Utkarsh Jani, Advocate, Jani Advocates
Gopalakrishnan Devanathan (Kris Dev), Co-Founder of the International Transparency and Accountability Network
Prof. Subhash Bhatnagar, Advisor- CEG- IIMA
Anindya Kumar Banerjee, Regional Manager- East, CG & MP @ NComputing India
Nisha Thompson, Consultant, India Water Portal
Dr. Mrinalini Shah, Professor, NMIMS University, Mumbai
Sunny Vaghela, Founder & CTO, TechDefence Private Limited
Prashant Iyengar, Assistant Professor, Jindal Global Law School & Assistant Director, Centre for Intellectual Property Rights Studies

Please confirm your participation with Natasha Vaz at natasha@cis-india.org. We sincerely hope you will be able to attend and look forward to your participation.

Download the following:

E-Governance, Identity and Privacy [PDF, 253 Kb]
Event Poster [PDF, 162 Kb]
Event Brochure [PDF, 1618 Kb]

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/securing-e-governance

Securing e-Governance

natasha — 2012-06-26T06:45:26Z

On June 16, 2012, Privacy India in partnership with the Centre for Internet & Society, Bangalore, International Development Research Centre, Canada, Privacy International, UK and the Society in Action Group, Gurgaon organised a public discussion on “Securing e-Governance: Ensuring Data Protection and Privacy”, at the Ahmedabad Management Association.

The conversation brought together a cross section of citizens, lawyers, activists, researchers, academia and students.

	Prashant Iyengar, Assistant Professor, Jindal Global Law, opened the conference with an explanation of Privacy India’s mandate to raise awareness, spark civil action and promote democratic dialogue around privacy challenges and violations in India. He summarized the series of eight consultation previously organized across India in Kolkata on January 23, 2011, in Bangalore on February 5, 2011, in Ahmedabad on March 26, 2011, in Guwahati on June 23, 2011, in Chennai on August 6, 2011, in Mumbai on January 21, 2012, in New Delhi on February 3, 2012 and again in New Delhi on February 4, 2012. He described an egregious instance where the State Government of Karnataka, announced a plan to “post on its website all details of (1.51 crore) ration cardholders in the state”, to weed out duplicate ration cards and promote transparency. Details posted on the website would include the “ration card number, category of card (BPL/APL), names and photographs of the head and other members of a family, address, sources of income, LPG gas connection and number of cylinders in village/taluk/district wise.” An official said, “This would also work as a marriage bureau, for instance, a boy can see a photograph of a girl on the website and see whether she suits him”.[1] He described another embarrassing incident, which took place in 2008. Sixteen surveillance cameras were stolen from the Taj Mahal. After they had been replaced, in December 2010, it was reported that all of the CCTVs in the Taj Mahal had stopped working due to a “virus attack” on their computer systems. The district administration and the police department were apparently in disagreement as to who bore the burden of their maintenance.

Prashant Iyengar, Assistant Professor, Jindal Global Law, opened the conference with an explanation of Privacy India’s mandate to raise awareness, spark civil action and promote democratic dialogue around privacy challenges and violations in India. He summarized the series of eight consultation previously organized across India in Kolkata on January 23, 2011, in Bangalore on February 5, 2011, in Ahmedabad on March 26, 2011, in Guwahati on June 23, 2011, in Chennai on August 6, 2011, in Mumbai on January 21, 2012, in New Delhi on February 3, 2012 and again in New Delhi on February 4, 2012.

He described an egregious instance where the State Government of Karnataka, announced a plan to “post on its website all details of (1.51 crore) ration cardholders in the state”, to weed out duplicate ration cards and promote transparency. Details posted on the website would include the “ration card number, category of card (BPL/APL), names and photographs of the head and other members of a family, address, sources of income, LPG gas connection and number of cylinders in village/taluk/district wise.” An official said, “This would also work as a marriage bureau, for instance, a boy can see a photograph of a girl on the website and see whether she suits him”.[1]

He described another embarrassing incident, which took place in 2008. Sixteen surveillance cameras were stolen from the Taj Mahal. After they had been replaced, in December 2010, it was reported that all of the CCTVs in the Taj Mahal had stopped working due to a “virus attack” on their computer systems. The district administration and the police department were apparently in disagreement as to who bore the burden of their maintenance.

Prof. Subhash Bhatnagar, Advisor Center for e-Governance IIM, Ahmedabad, dismissed the notion that privacy is irrelevant in India. A survey on e-governance, of 50,000 people conducted in major cities of India shows that confidentiality and security of data were among the top 3 concerns among 20 choices. He discussed various mission mode projects in the National e-Governance Plan that holds and shares large amounts of data on individuals and business. He referred to his personal experience when enrolling for UID. He noticed that the box concerning consent for sharing of information with third parties was, by default, automatically ticked. When he asked the UID staff, they mentioned that the software does not allow for enrollment to continue if the box is not ticked. He called for increased vigilance among citizens, a phone helpline dedicated to resolution of privacy intrusions and sensitizing designers of e-Governance projects.

Prof. Subhash Bhatnagar, Advisor Center for e-Governance IIM, Ahmedabad, dismissed the notion that privacy is irrelevant in India. A survey on e-governance, of 50,000 people conducted in major cities of India shows that confidentiality and security of data were among the top 3 concerns among 20 choices. He discussed various mission mode projects in the National e-Governance Plan that holds and shares large amounts of data on individuals and business. He referred to his personal experience when enrolling for UID. He noticed that the box concerning consent for sharing of information with third parties was, by default, automatically ticked. When he asked the UID staff, they mentioned that the software does not allow for enrollment to continue if the box is not ticked. He called for increased vigilance among citizens, a phone helpline dedicated to resolution of privacy intrusions and sensitizing designers of e-Governance projects.

	Dr. Nityesh Bhatt, Sr. Associate Prof and Chairperson-Information Management Area, Institute of Management, Nirma University, Ahmedabad, stressed the importance of limiting access of information on a need-to-know basis, which is one of the most fundamental security principles. He described various characteristics of information security management including: planning, policy, programs, protection, people and project management. Lastly, he recommended ‘SETA’ as an essential program, designed to reduce the incidence of accidental security breaches by employees, contractors, consultants, vendors, and business partners. A SETA program consists of three elements: security education, security training, and security awareness. It can improve employee behavior and enables the organization to hold employees accountable for their actions.

Dr. Nityesh Bhatt, Sr. Associate Prof and Chairperson-Information Management Area, Institute of Management, Nirma University, Ahmedabad, stressed the importance of limiting access of information on a need-to-know basis, which is one of the most fundamental security principles. He described various characteristics of information security management including: planning, policy, programs, protection, people and project management. Lastly, he recommended ‘SETA’ as an essential program, designed to reduce the incidence of accidental security breaches by employees, contractors, consultants, vendors, and business partners. A SETA program consists of three elements: security education, security training, and security awareness. It can improve employee behavior and enables the organization to hold employees accountable for their actions.

Dr. Neeta Shah, Director (e-Governance) Gujarat Informatics Limited, described the extent of e-governance initiatives in Gujarat (there are more than 100 e-governance applications running) and its impact. She discussed successful e-governance initiatives that have helped solve critical problems such as the online teacher application process, which accelerates the recruitment process of primary teachers. E-governance applications of various departments ensure security of data and privacy protection through the following measures: Network security (NIPS, Firewalls, content filtering, HIPS, antivirus, etc.) Data security (robust SAN environment with high raid levels to prevent any data loss) Application security (audited by empanelled TPA) DR/BCP provisioning (real-time data is replicated to DR site in case of any physical calamity or damage to resources at primary site, backup exists at remote different seismological locations) When designing e-government projects, the government tends to think about security of the system, but not privacy of the data. Security in the minds of the government is achieved through strengthening infrastructure, but they often overlook the human dynamic.

Dr. Neeta Shah, Director (e-Governance) Gujarat Informatics Limited, described the extent of e-governance initiatives in Gujarat (there are more than 100 e-governance applications running) and its impact. She discussed successful e-governance initiatives that have helped solve critical problems such as the online teacher application process, which accelerates the recruitment process of primary teachers.

E-governance applications of various departments ensure security of data and privacy protection through the following measures:

Network security (NIPS, Firewalls, content filtering, HIPS, antivirus, etc.)
Data security (robust SAN environment with high raid levels to prevent any data loss)
Application security (audited by empanelled TPA)
DR/BCP provisioning (real-time data is replicated to DR site in case of any physical calamity or damage to resources at primary site, backup exists at remote different seismological locations)

When designing e-government projects, the government tends to think about security of the system, but not privacy of the data. Security in the minds of the government is achieved through strengthening infrastructure, but they often overlook the human dynamic.

Gopalkrishnan Devnathan (Kris dev), Co-founder, International Transparency and Accountability Network, described e-Governance as the application of Information and Communication Technology for delivering government services. It involves the integration of various systems and services between Government-to-Citizens, Government-to-Business, Government-to-Government as well as back office processes and interactions within the entire government framework. E-governance initiatives can ensure privacy and security through: Securing data/transaction using Smart Card with triple access control, Card, PIN and Biometrics (multimodal) Mirrored data storage with proper security Indelible audit trail using encrypted flat file Prevent server intrusion and data theft upfront rather than do post-mortem analysis Information on data accessed can be communicated on real time basis using ICT tools Lastly, he identified the usefulness, inhibitions and potential security solutions for the Unique Identification System.

Gopalkrishnan Devnathan (Kris dev), Co-founder, International Transparency and Accountability Network, described e-Governance as the application of Information and Communication Technology for delivering government services. It involves the integration of various systems and services between Government-to-Citizens, Government-to-Business, Government-to-Government as well as back office processes and interactions within the entire government framework. E-governance initiatives can ensure privacy and security through:

Securing data/transaction using Smart Card with triple access control, Card, PIN and Biometrics (multimodal)
Mirrored data storage with proper security
Indelible audit trail using encrypted flat file
Prevent server intrusion and data theft upfront rather than do post-mortem analysis
Information on data accessed can be communicated on real time basis using ICT tools

Lastly, he identified the usefulness, inhibitions and potential security solutions for the Unique Identification System.

	Anindya Kumar Banerjee, Regional Manager- East, CG & MP at Ncomputing Inc., discussed a comparative analysis of e-governance initiatives in India. He analyzed various factors such as ease of use, simplicity of procedures, time savings compared to manual, affordable cost of service and reduction in corruption. He described the difference infrastructural threats of security and privacy in e-Governance.

Anindya Kumar Banerjee, Regional Manager- East, CG & MP at Ncomputing Inc., discussed a comparative analysis of e-governance initiatives in India. He analyzed various factors such as ease of use, simplicity of procedures, time savings compared to manual, affordable cost of service and reduction in corruption. He described the difference infrastructural threats of security and privacy in e-Governance.

Dr. Mrinalini Shah, Professor of Operations Management at Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad identified the slow legal system and multiple jurisdiction system as a challenge for privacy and security of data and implementations of suitable access controls and authorization as a helping factor.

Utkarsh Jani, Advocate, Jani Advocates, described the relevant section of the Information Technology Act (ITA) relating to privacy and the political and social challenges surrounding the right to privacy. He discussed the right to privacy vis-à-vis data protection. Though the ITA does enforce a level of data protection, it is far from flawless.

The ITA lacks the following:

The definition and classification of data types.

The nature and protection of the categories of data.

Data controllers and data processors have distinct
Clear restrictions on the manner of data collection.
Clear guidelines on the purposes for which the data can be put and to whom it can be sent.

Standards and technical measures governing the collection, storage, access to, protection, retention and destruction of data.
It does not provide strong safeguard and penalties against the aforesaid breaches.

Sunny Vaghela, Founder and CTO, TechDefence Pvt. Ltd., provided a hacker’s perspective to security and privacy issues in e-governance. Cyber crimes such as privacy violations and data breaches are increasing because of the dependence on complex computer infrastructures. Complex computer infrastructures make systems vulnerable because if one application is hacked, the entire network can be accessed and compromised. He conducted a live demonstration, showing how simple it is to hack into a government website. From his personal experience as an ethical hacker, he stated that government agencies are extremely negligent about the privacy and the security of data. A major concern with e-governance websites is that they not designed with privacy in mind, leaving the personal and private details of citizens vulnerable. He called for full penetration testing and vulnerability assessment of e-governance portals in order to maintain the privacy of citizens and protect government data. Some government websites that were hacked include AMC e-governance (was awarded one best e-governance award in 2010), CBI server and the Income Tax of India server. Lastly, he described the frequent mistakes made by the government in e-Governance projects. The government started using the e-Governance systems in 2003. Typically, three things are a component of the application: the person, the source code and the database, but the security is on the network. Governments work on developing the network to be secure, but they often overlook the application. A solution to this could be the use of high interaction honey pots.

Sunny Vaghela, Founder and CTO, TechDefence Pvt. Ltd., provided a hacker’s perspective to security and privacy issues in e-governance. Cyber crimes such as privacy violations and data breaches are increasing because of the dependence on complex computer infrastructures. Complex computer infrastructures make systems vulnerable because if one application is hacked, the entire network can be accessed and compromised.

He conducted a live demonstration, showing how simple it is to hack into a government website. From his personal experience as an ethical hacker, he stated that government agencies are extremely negligent about the privacy and the security of data. A major concern with e-governance websites is that they not designed with privacy in mind, leaving the personal and private details of citizens vulnerable.

He called for full penetration testing and vulnerability assessment of e-governance portals in order to maintain the privacy of citizens and protect government data. Some government websites that were hacked include AMC e-governance (was awarded one best e-governance award in 2010), CBI server and the Income Tax of India server.

Lastly, he described the frequent mistakes made by the government in e-Governance projects. The government started using the e-Governance systems in 2003. Typically, three things are a component of the application: the person, the source code and the database, but the security is on the network. Governments work on developing the network to be secure, but they often overlook the application. A solution to this could be the use of high interaction honey pots.

	Nisha Thompson, Data Project Manager at Arghyam/ India Water Portal, discussed the increased amount of data generated through e-governance initiatives and its impact. When more data is generated and collected, politics and privacy become intertwined. There can be a conflict between opening up data and privacy thus; one needs to decide on parameters. For example, with regards to privacy and national security, parameters should be in place to determine where privacy ends and the public good starts. In India, this line does not begin with the individual as it does in many contexts. Collective privacy in India is important. She described various online tools that increase transparency and awareness such as: Transparency Chennai, India Governs and I Paid a Bribe. Over the course of the day, participants engaged in lively discussion on various issues such as the objectives and features of e-governance, examples of e-governance projects, and the parameters, problems, loopholes and tensions in e-governance projects. Participants response to privacy concerns have to a large extent focused on the fact that e-Governance is a double-edge sword. E-governance initiatives are an invariable tool for ensuring wider participation and deeper involvement of citizens, institutions, NGOs as well as private firms in the decision making process. However, the political and regulatory environment must be strengthened.

Nisha Thompson, Data Project Manager at Arghyam/ India Water Portal, discussed the increased amount of data generated through e-governance initiatives and its impact. When more data is generated and collected, politics and privacy become intertwined. There can be a conflict between opening up data and privacy thus; one needs to decide on parameters. For example, with regards to privacy and national security, parameters should be in place to determine where privacy ends and the public good starts. In India, this line does not begin with the individual as it does in many contexts. Collective privacy in India is important. She described various online tools that increase transparency and awareness such as: Transparency Chennai, India Governs and I Paid a Bribe.

Over the course of the day, participants engaged in lively discussion on various issues such as the objectives and features of e-governance, examples of e-governance projects, and the parameters, problems, loopholes and tensions in e-governance projects.

Participants response to privacy concerns have to a large extent focused on the fact that e-Governance is a double-edge sword. E-governance initiatives are an invariable tool for ensuring wider participation and deeper involvement of citizens, institutions, NGOs as well as private firms in the decision making process. However, the political and regulatory environment must be strengthened.

About Privacy India

Privacy India was established in 2010 with the objective of raising awareness, sparking civil action and promoting democratic dialogue around privacy challenges and violations in India. One of our goals is to build consensus towards the promulgation of comprehensive privacy legislation in India through consultations with the public, policymakers, legislators and the legal and academic community.

[1] Nagesh Prabhu, A way to check bogus ration cards, THE HINDU, September 18, 2010, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/article696087.ece (last visited Oct 23, 2011).

Click below to download the following resources:

E-Governance, Identity and Privacy [PDF, 253 Kb]
Event Brochure [PDF, 1618 Kb]

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/securing-e-governance-event-report

Securing Digital Payments: Imperatives for a Growing Ecosystem

praskrishna — 2017-02-09T01:40:22Z

A round-table conference was organised by ORF and Koan Advisory on “Securing Digital Payments: Imperatives for a Growing Ecosystem”, at “The Claridges”, APJ Abdul Kalam Road, New Delhi, between 11.30 - 13.30 on February 3, 2017. Udbhav Tiwari attended the round-table conference.

The discussion was very enriching, with stakeholders from the government, industry and civil society participating in the event. The discussions mainly focused on:

Most Pressing Challenges - Convince v/s Security balance, Lack of Sector Specific Security Standards, User Digital Literacy (esp Security), Lackof economic incentives, Lack of clear liability guidelines, capable security talent.
Mobile proliferation - Massively, device dependent (Chinese models), increase in attack surface, fragmentation makes security harder toimplement and enforce, low amount high volume fraud, user literacy, etc.
Regulatory Harmonisation - Yes, they can and should be, current process is largely law based, only public consultation, needs to move to amultistage holder model, ISO model is ideal - allows for industry, civil society and governments to participate at equal level, knowledge and perspective sharing. Core legislation/regulations with minimum standards and principles with detailed document made by multistakeholder body.
Infrastructural liabilities - 4 main ones - - device, connectivity medium, payment and transfer switches (Gov & Private) and service provider server. Ways to overcome - Standards, Critical Infrastructure protection, Digital Literacy, High audit and liability requirements, Testing (Red Team/Blue Team)

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/securing-digital-payments-imperatives-for-a-growing-ecosystem

Secure IT 2012 — Securing Citizens through Technology

praskrishna — 2012-04-28T04:06:47Z

The event is co-organised by DST and NSDI, Govt. of India in partnership with Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd. on March 1, 2012 at Claridges in New Delhi.

Draft Agenda

9.00 am – 9.30 am	Registration & Tea
9.30 am – 11.00 am	Inaugural Session

Securing Citizens through Technology

The SecureIT 2012 Inaugural Session would present an overview of the security scenario in the country, and place the use of ICT towards ensuring national security centrestage. The inaugural would also highlight the use that ICT is being put for in effective disaster management, minimising material as well as human loss.

The session would aim at identifying a policy roadmap towards making effective use of ICT for the purposes of national security, well-being of citizens and businesses in times of disaster and an uncertain external environment and identify the major policy objectives for the sector as a whole.

Introductory Remarks: Dr Ravi Gupta, CEO Elets Technomedia and Editor-in-Chief, egov
Welcome Address: Dr M P Narayanan, President, Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies
Inaugural Address: Anil K Sinha, Vice Chairman, Bihar State Disaster Management Authority, Government of Bihar – Chief Guest, SecureIT 2012

Panel Discussion:

S Regunathan, Former Chief Secretary, Government of NCT of Delhi
R S Sharma, Director General, UIDAI
Shankar Aggarwal, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Government of India
Shambhu Singh, Joint Secretary (North East), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India
Ajay Sawhney, CEO, National e-Governance Division, Government of India
Major General (Dr) R Siva Kumar, Head, (NRDMS), Government of India

11. 00 am – 11.30 am	Networking Tea
11.30 am – 1.30 pm	Technical Session 1

Information Security – Securing Networks, Communications, Data and Applications

In the modern Information Age, knowledge is power like never before. A robust, secure communications network is not only desired, it is an absolute imperative in order to allow efficient functioning of the state. The communications networks have to be secured from state and non-state actors inimical to India. This session would highlight some major threats to the national communications infrastructure and the policies being adopted to counter these threats.

Chair: Ravi S Saxena, Additional Chief Secretary, DST, Government of Gujarat
Key Note Speaker: Dr Gulshan Rai, Director General, CERT-In

Distinguished Panellists:

S K Basu, Vice President, NIIT Technologies
Manas Sarkar, Head Pre-Sales (India & SAARC), Trend Micro
Ruchin Kumar, Principal Solution Architect, India and SAARC, Safenet India Pvt Ltd
Dr Kamlesh Bajaj, CEO, Data Security Council of India
Rajan Raj Pant, Controller, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of Nepal
Prof. Anjali Kaushik, Management Development Institute, Gurgaon

1.30 pm – 2.30 pm	Lunch
2.30 pm – 5.00 pm	Technical Session 2

ICT in National Security and Policing

India faces a multiplicity of security challenges from within and without. Conventional responses to these challenges are no longer adequate and technology is being increasingly deployed to make the nation safer and more secure for residents, visitors and businesses. The legal framework has also been modified to incorporate modern technological advances.

The MHA has embarked upon a major project – Crime and Criminal Tracking System (CCTNS) that is expected to bring about a major overhaul of the policing system of the country. In this session, CCTNS and state adaptations of ICT in policing would be discussed along with an overview of technological advances in the field of security.

Chair: S Suresh Kumar, Joint Secretary (Centre-State), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India

Distinguished Panellists:

NSN Murty, General Manager, Smarter Planet Solutions - India/ South Asia, IBM
Col Vishu Sikka, (Retd) General Manager – Defence, Aerospace & Public Security, SAP India & Subcontinent
Joachim Murat, Director of Sagem Morpho Security Pvt Ltd.
Hemant Sharma, Vice- Chair, BSA India Committee
Raj Prem Khilnani, DGP (Homeguard and Civil Defence), Maharashtra
Rajvir P Sharma, Additional Director General of Police, Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force
Loknath Behra, IGP, National Investigation Agency
Purushottam Sharma, IGP, State Crime Records Bureau, Madhya Pradesh
Ranjan Dwivedi, IGP, UP Police
Sanjay Sahay, IGP, Karnataka State Police

5.00 pm – 5. 30 pm	Networking Tea
5.30 pm – 7.00 pm	Technical Session 3

Managing Information for Safety and Security

In the modern age, ICT is deployed in a variety of ways for enhancing citizen safety and security. ICT is being widely used for disaster management, urban planning, census operations etc.

In this session, discussions would highlight some path-breaking uses of ICT for enhancing citizen safety in a number of diverse settings.

Chair: N Ravishanker, Additional Secretary, Universal Service Obligation Fund, DIT, Govt of India

Distinguished Panellists:

Sandeep Sehgal, IBM, VP, Public Sector, India and South Asia
Sanjeev Mital, CEO, National Institute of Smart Governance (NISG), Government of India
Dr R C Sethi, Additional Registrar General of India
Maj Gen R C Padhi, Assistant Surveyor General, Survey of India
Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, Center For Internet Society
V S Prakash, Director, Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, Karnataka
Rajiv P Saxena, Deputy Director General, National Informatics Centre, Government of India
Jay Kay Gupta, Fire Chief, Delhi Development Authority

7.00 pm onwards

Valedictory Session: Way Ahead High Tea

VIDEO

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/secure-it-2012

We are anonymous, we are legion

Seminar on "Hate Speech and Social Media"

Self-regulation in media and society meet to gain legal perspectives

Security: Privacy, Transparency and Technology

Security and Privacy

Security and Transparency

Security and Technology

More Technology

Latest Technology

Complex Technology

Threat Scenarios and Possible Solutions

Conclusion

Security, Governments, and Data: Technology and Policy

About the Conference

Conference Context

Panel Descriptions

Agenda

Security, Governments and Data: Technology and Policy

Welcome Address

Security Research

Security experts say need to secure Aadhaar ecosystem, warn about third party leaks

Security and Surveillance: A public discussion on Optimizing Security while Safeguarding Human Rights

Security and Surveillance – Optimizing Security while Safeguarding Human Rights

Securing the internet’s future

Securing The Digital Payments Ecosystem

Securing e-Governance: Ensuring Data Protection and Privacy

Agenda

Session I

Session II

Session III

Confirmed Speakers

Download the following:

Securing e-Governance

About Privacy India

Securing Digital Payments: Imperatives for a Growing Ecosystem

Secure IT 2012 — Securing Citizens through Technology

Draft Agenda

Securing Citizens through Technology

Information Security – Securing Networks, Communications, Data and Applications

ICT in National Security and Policing

Managing Information for Safety and Security