Building an Ecosystem for Cyber Security and Data Protection in India

Governments across the globe are gearing up through policy enactments and necessary investments to fight the menace of rising cyber crimes. These policies and investments also assure citizens of their privacy rights in the cyber space. India, with its high growth rate, is rapidly integrating itself with Internet Economy, where transactions are predominantly carried out electronically. While Internet offers a new means for expanding economic and business avenues, it offers ease of operations and promises outreach. It is, however, subject to ever increasing dangers of cyber crimes and escalating misuse of personal information being collected by businesses. Individuals need legal protection to protect their personal rights and secure their transaction in cyber space. Institutes, industry and government need assurance that sufficient steps have been taken to secure the flourishing growth of economy. This requires setting up of an ecosystem that is capable of understanding new age complexities and offering swift response mechanism. The ecosystem for cyber security and data protection necessitates a strong legal framework, proactive government initiatives, active involvement of, and contribution by the industry and effective law enforcement mechanism. This paper discusses how India is responding to cyber security and data protection challenges, and how a new ecosystem is underway in recent years.