IT law to protect websites

Friday, 14 July 2006, 19:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: The Information Technology Act 2000 will be amended to help curb-increasing attacks on Indian websites, a senior minister said Wednesday. "The act is being amended with a view to provide legal framework relating to theft of data, transmission of images and video voyeurism," Minister Of Communications and IT Dayanidhi Maran Maran told a seminar on "Cyber Crime: Today and Tomorrow" organized here by industry lobby NASSCOM. About 1,400 websites of Indian companies and government agencies have come under attack in the past six months and 55 percent of these threats were from outside the country, according to official data. Major IT crimes reported in the country related to the denial of services, defacement of websites, spam, computer virus and worms, pornography, cyber squatting and cyber stalking, the minister said. The amended act would help in appointing an examiner for digital evidence and render all necessary assistance to police and to the court, Maran said. Many cyber crimes in the country were booked under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), rather than Information Technology Act, as a majority of police officials were not well versed with IT, the minister said. Maran added that the government had taken a number of initiatives like the setting up of Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) that provides necessary assistance to prevent security breaches. The team also monitors cyber security scenario in the country to protect critical information infrastructure, the minister said.
Source: IANS