MUMBAI:
The increase in fraud related to online financial transactions has made
the Bombay high court say that cyber crime needs special focus from the
state and cannot be looked at with the prism of ordinary crime.
"When a complaint is lodged, the police look at it from a narrow perspective of an offence under the IPC. Treat it as a specialized crime under the Information Technology Act, especially when it comes to financial transactions and data theft," said a division bench of Justices S C Dharmadhikari and Gautam Patel on Wednesday.
The police was not responding properly to cyber crime, which is not only about Facebook and Twitter, but also financial security, said the judges. "What do you do when the data of a bank or a financial institution is stolen or is lost? Today, everyone uses online banking, where personal details have to be provided. What measures are being taken to protect data, detect data theft and retrieve lost data? You are sitting on a time bomb."
The court said the IT Act had a special provision (section 70) to designate any computer, computer system or computer network as protected and makes it a crime if a person accesses it illegally (the jail term is up to 10 years). "Is there a single system that is designated as a protected system in Maharashtra? Mumbai is the financial hub of the country with no less than two stock exchanges. Has any bank or any government website or system been categorized as a protected system? Neither the state nor the RBI has made any guidelines.
Print Page
"When a complaint is lodged, the police look at it from a narrow perspective of an offence under the IPC. Treat it as a specialized crime under the Information Technology Act, especially when it comes to financial transactions and data theft," said a division bench of Justices S C Dharmadhikari and Gautam Patel on Wednesday.
The police was not responding properly to cyber crime, which is not only about Facebook and Twitter, but also financial security, said the judges. "What do you do when the data of a bank or a financial institution is stolen or is lost? Today, everyone uses online banking, where personal details have to be provided. What measures are being taken to protect data, detect data theft and retrieve lost data? You are sitting on a time bomb."
The court said the IT Act had a special provision (section 70) to designate any computer, computer system or computer network as protected and makes it a crime if a person accesses it illegally (the jail term is up to 10 years). "Is there a single system that is designated as a protected system in Maharashtra? Mumbai is the financial hub of the country with no less than two stock exchanges. Has any bank or any government website or system been categorized as a protected system? Neither the state nor the RBI has made any guidelines.
No comments:
Post a Comment